Nebraska · Land Surveyor seal requirements
Nebraska Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in Nebraska seal under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 (Land Surveyors Regulation Act); 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6 (The Registered Professional Land Surveyor's Seal), administered by the Nebraska State Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors. The seal reads “Professional Land Surveyor”. No diameter is prescribed. The examining board issues each licensee a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal of the board's own design, and neither the Land Surveyors Regulation Act nor Title 234 states a size; the only dimensional test is legibility, and in the absence of legibility the seal is invalid.
Rule 6.1.6 still reads "signed across the face of the seal," wording that predates the 2026 amendment of § 81-3437.01(2). The statute now permits the signature and date across or adjacent to the seal, and the statute controls; as of August 2026 the Board had not conformed the rule text.
Nebraska Land Surveyor seal
- Legend
- “Professional Land Surveyor”
- Diameter
- No diameter is prescribed. The examining board issues each licensee a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal of the board's own design, and neither the Land Surveyors Regulation Act nor Title 234 states a size; the only dimensional test is legibility, and in the absence of legibility the seal is invalid.
- Expiration date
- Neither § 81-8,121 nor Title 234 puts a license expiration or renewal date on the seal or beside it. The seal is invalid only once the license is suspended, revoked or expired, at which point stamping with it or with a facsimile is unlawful.(Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121; 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001)
- Signature date
- The date the document was signed accompanies the signature, placed next to the seal or across its face.(234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.05)
- City on seal
- The rule does not require a city on the seal.(Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121; 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.01)
- The examining board shall provide for each person licensed a seal bearing the licensee's name and the legend Professional Land Surveyor.(Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121)
- The board issues the seal with the certificate of registration, and the issued seal contains the professional land surveyor's full name and registration number.(234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 5, 001)
- Each person registered as a professional land surveyor is issued a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal by the examining board, and may use any seal the board has issued.(234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.01)
- The individual seal is given by the board and shall be in strict accordance with the design as accepted by the board, so the licensee does not specify its artwork.(Board Bylaws § 7 (Seals and Certificates); Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,110.12)
- The legend has been Professional Land Surveyor only since LB102 became operative on September 1, 2024; the previous text of § 81-8,121 required the legend Registered Land Surveyor.(Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121; Laws 2024, LB102, §§ 37, 53)
- No seal is valid unless accompanied by a signature next to or signed across the face of the seal with the professional land surveyor's name and the date on which the document was signed.(234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.05)
- Specifications, reports, studies, plats, surveys and other documents are signed and sealed on the title page or the first page; where two or more surveyors seal one document, a statement, surveyor's certificate or note must identify the subject matter each is responsible for.(234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.04)
- Final plats must be prepared, signed, sealed and certified by a professional land surveyor, while preliminary plats must be prepared by one but are not required to be signed, sealed or certified.(234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 003.01, 003.02)
- A record of survey bearing the signature and seal of the professional land surveyor becomes an official record of survey and is presumptive evidence of the facts stated in it.(Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,122.01(1))
Nebraska land surveyor seal questions
Which board issues a Nebraska land surveyor seal?▾
Land surveyors are not licensed by this board. They fall under the Nebraska Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors and 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, which issues each registrant the seal rather than describing its wording in rule text. (234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6)
Can a Nebraska land surveyor use a seal of their own design?▾
No — the examining board fixes the artwork and issues the seal itself. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 requires the examining board to provide for each person licensed a seal bearing the licensee's name and the legend Professional Land Surveyor; Title 234 states that each person registered as a professional land surveyor will be issued a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal by the examining board, and may use any seal the board has issued; and the board's bylaws add that the individual seal shall be in strict accordance with the design as accepted by the board. There is no artwork for the licensee to specify and no design to choose between — the opposite of the position for Nebraska engineers and architects, whose seals follow the design the other board approves. (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121; 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.01; ch. 5, 001; Board Bylaws § 7; Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1))
Does a Nebraska surveyor's seal say "Registered" or "Professional" Land Surveyor?▾
Professional — but only since September 1, 2024. LB102 struck "Registered" from Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 and inserted "Professional" in its place, and made the act operative on that date, so board-issued seals predating it read Registered Land Surveyor and are the version still in wide circulation. The old vocabulary also survives in the board's own materials: Title 234 remains the text effective September 28, 2022, which uses "registered", "registration" and "Certificate of Registration" throughout and titles the seal chapter "The Registered Professional Land Surveyor's Seal". The statute is what fixes the legend. (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121; Laws 2024, LB102, §§ 37, 53; 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6)
Is a Nebraska land surveyor's seal 1-7/8 inches in diameter?▾
That figure is the examining board's own official seal, not the licensee's. The bylaws describe it as an embossed circular seal of two concentric circles, the outer 1-7/8 inches and the inner 1-1/4 inches, carrying the words "Nebraska State Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors" between them and the seal of the State of Nebraska within, used on all certificates the board grants; § 81-8,110.12 confirms it is the examining board's own seal, affixed to the licenses and in-training certificates the board issues, and that its dimensions are as provided in the bylaws. No size is stated anywhere for a licensee's seal — Title 234 gives dimensions only for survey monuments, never for the seal — and the only dimensional test is legibility, in the absence of which the seal is invalid. (Board Bylaws § 7; Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,110.12; 234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 001.01)
Does a Nebraska preliminary plat need a land surveyor's seal?▾
No. Preliminary plats must be prepared by a professional land surveyor but are not required to be signed, sealed or certified; it is final plats that must be prepared, signed, sealed and certified. The trap is on the final plat: if it contains public works features such as paving, sewers, water lines or other engineering work, that work must be prepared and certified by both a professional land surveyor and a professional engineer, so the surveyor's seal alone will not carry the sheet. (234 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, 003.01, 003.02)