Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against chapter 8 of title 27 of the Virgin Islands Code and the Virgin Islands Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors inside the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, including that board's application, renewal form and requirements pages. We found no promulgated rules of this board and no published seal design, so confirm the artwork with the board on 22 September 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
The territory licenses engineers through one board that also licenses architects and land surveyors, and the entire seal duty sits in a single subsection. 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) requires each licensee, on receipt of the license, to obtain “a seal of the design authorized by the Board, bearing the licensee's name and the legend ‘Architect’, ‘Engineer’, or ‘Land Surveyor’, as the case may be.” Those documents are signed and stamped with it when issued for filing with public authorities.
Two things follow that a mainland template gets wrong. No diameter, shape, license number or territory name is prescribed, and the design is left to the board, which publishes none we could find. And the license is tied to residence: § 287(b) makes it invalid the moment the licensee leaves the Virgin Islands.
United States Virgin Islands professional engineer seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | United States Virgin Islands rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. Every licensee obtains a seal on receipt of the license. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Required elements | Your name and the legend “Engineer”, on a seal of the design authorized by the Board. Nothing else: no license number, no territory name, no date. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Size and shape | Not prescribed. No diameter, no shape, and no published board design we could locate. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b); no board rules located |
| Device allowed | Not specified. The statute's verb is stamped, which neither requires an embosser nor rules one out. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Signature and date | Documents are signed and stamped. No date requirement appears anywhere in chapter 8. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| What must be sealed | “Plans, specifications, reports, maps, plats, surveys, or other documents prepared by the licensee”, when issued for filing with public authorities. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Electronic seal | No board standard located. Under the territory's electronic transactions act each agency decides whether and in what form it accepts electronic records and signatures. | 11 V.I.C. §§ 107, 118 |
| Renewal and lapse | Valid one year, and DLCA states permanent licenses run September 1 to August 31. A license also becomes invalid if the licensee leaves the territory. | 27 V.I.C. § 287(a), (b); DLCA requirements page |
| Firm requirements | No certificate of authorization exists. A firm may practice provided everyone acting for it is licensed and individually liable. DLCA separately issues an Engineering Firm license. | 27 V.I.C. § 291(4); DLCA requirements page |
| Regulator | Virgin Islands Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors, reestablished within the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs | 27 V.I.C. § 282a, read on 22 September 2026 |
Is a seal required in the US Virgin Islands?
Yes, and § 286(b) is written as a duty rather than a permission. The same subsection carries the prohibition side, barring a licensee from affixing the seal, or permitting it to be affixed, to documents after the license has expired, or to aid any other person in evading the chapter. Enforcement sits in § 289, which makes it a misdemeanor to practice engineering here unlicensed, to use a title conveying that you are licensed here when you are not, to present or use the license or seal of another, or to use an expired, suspended or revoked license.
What must appear on the seal
The statute names two elements and stops.
- The licensee's name
- The legend “Engineer”
Read that legend literally, because it is shorter than most states require. The statutory word is Engineer, not Professional Engineer and not the initials P.E. No license number, discipline, territory name or expiration date is prescribed. The one qualifier is that the seal be “of the design authorized by the Board”, so the board, not the code, holds whatever further specification exists. Ask the board for that design before the artwork is cut. Signature and seal travel together, but no date is required anywhere in chapter 8, so dating stays a matter of your own practice.
Size and shape: nothing is published
Not prescribed. Chapter 8 sets no diameter, no shape and no minimum legible size, and neither the board's application, its renewal form nor its requirements pages mention a seal at all. DLCA publishes rules for the Board of Public Accountancy and nothing comparable for this board, so the silence is not simply a missing web page. Treat any dimension quoted elsewhere as unverified until the board confirms it. For reference only, the round dies we cut most often where a jurisdiction fixes nothing fall between 1-1/2″ and 2″, which is our production experience rather than a territorial rule.
Embosser, rubber stamp or digital
Not specified. The statute says documents are to be “signed and stamped with the said seal”, which sounds like an inked impression, while the noun throughout is seal, the older word for an embosser. Chapter 8 does not choose and does not forbid either. The practical answer is set by what the receiving public authority accepts on a filed drawing set, since an embossed impression does not photocopy or scan. We could find nothing in writing that settles it, so ask the board what design it authorized and ask the agency what it wants on the sheets.
One board, three professions, and a line for a fourth
The board is a single seven-member body inside DLCA. The commissioner or a designee sits ex officio and serves as its secretary, and six members are appointed by the Governor with legislative consent. Appointees must be residents with three consecutive years in practice, at least two must be architects and two engineers, and no more than three may reside on the same island, a distribution rule with no mainland equivalent. A fourth profession also hides on the paperwork: the board's application and renewal form carry a Landscape Architect line, while chapter 8 defines only three professions and § 286(b) authorizes only three legends.
Residency is part of the license here
This is the likeliest thing for a mainland page to miss. Section 283 conditions licensure on being at least twenty-one, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the Virgin Islands for one year before applying. Under § 287(b) the license then becomes automatically invalid if the licensee leaves the territory, and recovering it takes an affidavit sworn before an authorized official confirming resumed residence. An engineer who takes an assignment off island and keeps paying renewals is not necessarily holding a live license, and a seal is only as good as the license behind it.
Which documents must be sealed
The trigger is filing with a public authority. Plans, specifications, reports, maps, plats, surveys or other documents prepared by the licensee are signed and stamped when issued for filing with public authorities, which is narrower than the usual mainland formula of sealing all final work released to a client. The building code adds nothing: 29 V.I.C. § 294 requires every drawing sheet to bear the name of the draftsman, engineer, architect or other preparer and requires the application to name who will supervise the work, but it does not require a seal or a licensed preparer. The seal duty travels from title 27.
Electronic and digital seals
No board standard exists that we could find: no electronic seal rule, no digital signature specification, no certificate requirement and no file format guidance in chapter 8 or in the board's published material. What the territory has is a general Uniform Electronic Transactions Act at title 11, chapter 1. Section 107 gives electronic records and signatures legal effect, and § 118 puts the decision where it matters, leaving each Virgin Islands agency to determine whether and to what extent it accepts them and to specify format, signature type and control processes. Whether your sealed PDF is acceptable is therefore an agency question, not a board one.
Renewal, firms and the business license nobody warns you about
A license is valid one year, the secretary is to notify licensees of the expiration date at least a month beforehand, and DLCA states permanent licenses run September 1 to August 31. Chapter 8 sets no continuing education requirement, unlike almost every mainland engineering board, and renewal through the DLCA portal requires electronic tax approval from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. There is no certificate of authorization for firms; § 291(4) instead permits practice through a partnership or corporation provided the individuals are licensed and personally liable, while DLCA issues an Engineering Firm license and §§ 301 and 302 require a separate business license on top.
What we could not confirm, and what to check before you order
We read chapter 8 in full, the relevant parts of chapter 9, the electronic transactions act, the building permit sections of title 29, and the board's own forms and pages. Four gaps we are naming rather than filling: the design the board authorized under § 286(b); whether promulgated rules of this board exist at all; whether the board expects an embosser, an inked stamp or both; and the standing of the Landscape Architect line on its form. Get the authorized design from the board in writing, check the spelling of your name as licensed, then contact us and we will cut the artwork to what the board tells you. This page is research, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Does the US Virgin Islands require an engineer to have a seal?
Yes. 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) requires each licensee, on receipt of the license, to obtain a seal of the design authorized by the board bearing the licensee's name and the legend for the profession licensed. For an engineer that legend is the single word Engineer.
What exactly has to appear on a Virgin Islands engineer seal?
Your name and the legend “Engineer”. That is the whole statutory list. No license number, territory name, discipline or expiration date is prescribed. The seal must also match the design the board authorizes, and that design is not published.
What size should the seal be?
Nothing is prescribed, so size is a legibility decision. The round dies we cut most often where a jurisdiction fixes no dimension fall between 1-1/2″ and 2″, which is our production experience and not a Virgin Islands rule.
Do I need an embosser or a rubber stamp?
Not specified. The statute says documents are signed and stamped with the seal and does not choose a format. Ask the board what design it authorized and ask the agency you file with what it accepts on drawing sheets.
Is an electronic seal accepted?
There is no board rule on electronic seals. The territory's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act gives electronic signatures legal effect, and 11 V.I.C. § 118 leaves each Virgin Islands agency to decide whether and in what format it accepts them.
What happens to my license if I move off island?
It becomes invalid. Under § 287(b) a license is automatically invalid if the licensee leaves the Virgin Islands, and reinstatement takes an affidavit sworn before an authorized official that residence has resumed. Licensure also requires US citizenship and a year of residence before applying.
Does my firm need a certificate of authorization?
There is none in chapter 8. A firm may practice under § 291(4) provided everyone acting for it as an architect, engineer or land surveyor is licensed and individually liable. DLCA separately issues an Engineering Firm license, and a business license under §§ 301 and 302 is required on top.
How confident are you in this page?
Confident on the statute, openly incomplete on the design. Chapter 8 is clear about the duty, the legend and the documents. We could not find the seal design the same subsection says the board authorizes, any promulgated rules of the board, or any stated preference between an embosser and an inked stamp.
