How to become a notary public in California
Quick answer
How to become a notary public in California
To become a California notary you finish a state-approved six-hour education course, pass the Secretary of State exam administered by CPS HR Consulting, clear a Live Scan background check, then file your oath of office and a $15,000 surety bond with your county clerk within 30 calendar days. Budget several weeks start to finish.
If you have read three “become a notary” pages already, you have probably noticed they all end at the same checkout button. This one does not sell a course. It walks the real path in order, tells you what each step costs and how long it takes, and points you at a free practice exam when you are ready to study. California only.
Two things worth saying up front, because the mill sites tend to blur them: we are not the California Secretary of State (SOS), and we are not one of the SOS-approved education vendors, so we cannot and do not sell the required course. The course is a real, mandatory step. We just are not the ones selling it.
The short version
- Take the state-approved six-hour notary education course.
- Pass the state notary exam, administered by CPS HR Consulting.
- Complete a Live Scan fingerprint background check.
- Wait for your commission packet from the Secretary of State.
- File your oath of office and your $15,000 surety bond with the county clerk within 30 calendar days.
- Buy your notary seal and sequential journal, then start notarizing.
The rest of this guide is each step in plain English, with the honest timing.
Step 1: Take the approved six-hour course
Before you can sit the exam as a new applicant, California requires a six-hour notary public education course from an SOS-approved vendor. There is no way around this and no “test out” option for first-timers. A currently commissioned notary renewing on time can take a shorter three-hour refresher instead, covered in the renewal guide.
The course price is set by the vendor, not the state, so it is market-priced and varies. We show it as a range on the cost and timeline page rather than inventing a single number. What matters for passing: the course and the exam both draw from the same public document, the 2026 California Notary Public Handbook, so treat the course as your first read of the material, not a box to tick.
Step 2: Pass the state exam
The exam is administered by CPS HR Consulting under the Secretary of State. It is a closed-book, multiple-choice test taken in person, and every question traces back to the 2026 handbook. Results are mailed back in roughly 15 to 20 business days, and a passing result is valid for one year, so you have time to finish the remaining steps without retaking it.
Confirm the current question count, time limit, and passing score in the 2026 handbook before your test date, since those specifics can change edition to edition. What does not change is the source: study the handbook and drill the free practice exam, and most first-timers pass. The people who fail are almost always the ones who skimmed. We cover this honestly in Is the California notary exam hard?.
Step 3: Complete Live Scan
Every applicant clears a fingerprint background check through Live Scan, submitted to the California Department of Justice (DOJ). You do this at a Live Scan location, pay a rolling fee (market-priced, set by the site) plus the government fingerprint fee, and then wait. The DOJ processing can take up to about four weeks, which is usually the slowest part of the whole timeline, so start it as soon as you are eligible rather than saving it for last.
Step 4: File your oath and bond
Once the Secretary of State issues your commission, the clock starts. You have 30 calendar days to file two things with your county clerk: your oath of office and a $15,000 surety bond. The $15,000 is the bond amount set by statute; the premium you actually pay for that bond is separate and market-priced, and it is much less than $15,000. See surety bond in the glossary for the distinction, which trips up a lot of new notaries.
Miss the 30-day window and your commission does not take effect, so put the deadline in your calendar the day your packet arrives.
Step 5: Get your seal and journal, then start
California requires you to keep an official notary seal and a sequential journal of your notarial acts. Both are required equipment, both are market-priced, and you buy them yourself. After your oath and bond are on file and your equipment is in hand, you are a commissioned California notary.
How long does the whole thing take?
Plan for several weeks, not a weekend, mostly because of the waits you do not control:
- Course: about a day.
- Exam results: roughly 15 to 20 business days.
- Live Scan processing: up to about four weeks.
- Oath and bond filing: your 30-day window after the commission issues.
The cost and timeline planner lays out a realistic week-by-week view for a new applicant versus a renewal.
What it costs
The only two figures the state itself sets are the $20 application fee and the exam fee (currently $40 for a first attempt, worth reconfirming against the current fee schedule). Everything else, the course, the bond premium, Live Scan, and your seal and journal, is market-priced. Most new notaries spend a few hundred dollars all in. The full itemized, dated breakdown lives on the cost and timeline page.
Who can apply
You must be a legal California resident and meet the state’s basic eligibility rules, which include a minimum age and no disqualifying criminal history. The Secretary of State publishes the full eligibility criteria; if you are unsure whether something in your background is disqualifying, check the SOS notary pages before you pay for the course.
Ready to study?
The honest path is: take the required course, read the 2026 handbook, and drill questions until the rules stick. Start with a five-question sprint. Every item shows the handbook rule it comes from, so you learn the reasoning, not just the answer key.