If you have been typing "Georgia master electrician license lookup" into a search box and getting nothing back, there are two reasons, and neither of them is that the licensee is unlicensed.
The first is the name. Georgia issues no master electrician license, so no record can match it. The license is Electrical Contractor, Restricted or Non-Restricted.
The second is the tool. Georgia runs more than one public search, and the one most people land on does not cover trade licenses at all.
Key facts
- Professional licenses are searched in GOALS, the Georgia Online Automated Licensing System: goals.sos.ga.gov/GASOSOneStop/s/licensee-search
- verify.sos.ga.gov is a different system. It covers Cemeteries, Charities and Securities only. An electrical contractor will never appear there (checked 2026-09-23).
- The search needs at least two fields filled before it will run.
- A person and a company are separate searches: Individual, or Business/Facility.
- There is no master or journeyman electrician record to find. Search Electrical Contractor.
- Licenses renew every two years, by June 30 of even-numbered years.
Use the right search
The professional licensee search lives inside GOALS, the Secretary of State's licensing system:
goals.sos.ga.gov/GASOSOneStop/s/licensee-search
It opens with a choice — Individual or Business/Facility — and then Profession Type, License Type, License Number, First Name and Last Name. The page states its own rule plainly: complete at least two of those fields before you search. One field alone returns nothing, which is the single most common reason a lookup "fails".
The other address, verify.sos.ga.gov, is the one search engines tend to surface, and it is the wrong one. Its profession list is Cemeteries, Charities and Securities. No trade board is in it. If that page is where you have been looking, nothing you type will ever work.
Search the person, then the company
These are two different records, and a contractor can be fine on one and lapsed on the other.
The license belongs to a person. The company may do electrical contracting only while a licensed person who is actively engaged in the business full time is regularly connected with it (O.C.G.A. 43-14-8(d)). If that licensee dies, the firm may keep operating under the license for 90 days, and the division may grant one further 90-day period. When the qualifying licensee leaves, the firm has seven days to notify the division.
So if you are checking out a contractor before signing: search the business, then search the individual whose license the business runs on. A company trading on a license that walked out the door eight months ago looks perfectly normal on a truck door.
What to type
- Profession: Electrical Contractor. Not "electrician", not "master electrician", not "journeyman" — none of those is a Georgia license.
- License type: Restricted or Non-Restricted. Restricted is limited to residential work within the statutory size limits; Non-Restricted has no limit.
- Name: last name plus profession is usually enough to satisfy the two-field rule.
- License number, if you have it off a permit or an invoice, is the cleanest search of all.
The other things GOALS does
- Order a Georgia license verification — the formal certification another state's board asks for when you apply there.
- Print your Georgia license — the wall copy, from your own account.
- Renew — online only, by June 30 of even-numbered years, with a late window July 1 to 31 and a late fee. Continuing education is four hours a year, eight per renewal cycle, and you can be audited on it.
- Roster request — the route for bulk data. The individual search is for individual checks; do not scrape it.
If you find nothing at all
Work through this before assuming the worst:
- You are on verify.sos.ga.gov instead of GOALS. Move.
- You filled one field. Fill two.
- You searched a name that is not a Georgia license type.
- Spelling. Try a shorter last name fragment or a wildcard where the search offers one.
- You are searching for a person whose company holds the registration, or the reverse.
- The license really has lapsed. A license lapsed less than three years takes a different reinstatement application than one lapsed three years or more — the Secretary of State publishes both.
Common questions
How do I look up a Georgia electrical contractor license?
Use the GOALS professional licensee search at goals.sos.ga.gov/GASOSOneStop/s/licensee-search, choose Individual or Business/Facility, and complete at least two fields — profession plus last name, or the license number. The verify.sos.ga.gov site does not cover trade licenses.
Why does my Georgia master electrician license lookup return nothing?
Because Georgia issues no master electrician license. The records are filed as Electrical Contractor, Restricted or Non-Restricted. Searching "master electrician" can only ever return an empty result.
Can I check whether an electrical contractor is licensed before hiring them?
Yes, and check both records: the business and the individual licensee it operates under. A firm may contract only while a licensed person actively engaged in the business full time is connected with it (O.C.G.A. 43-14-8(d)), and it has seven days to tell the division when that person leaves.
How do I get a license verification sent to another state?
Order it through GOALS. Boards in other states want a verification issued by Georgia directly, not a printout of the public search result.
When does a Georgia electrical contractor license expire?
Every two years, on June 30 of even-numbered years. Late renewal runs July 1 to 31 with a late fee, and continuing education of four hours a year, eight per cycle, has to be complete.
Is there a bulk download of Georgia licensees?
Yes, by roster request through GOALS. The public search is for individual verification.
Before you sit the exam
If you are looking yourself up because you are about to apply, find out where you stand first. The free exam is 20 questions from the official outline, no card and no account, and every answer comes back with the section it came from.
Sources read on 2026-09-23: the Georgia State Board of Electrical Contractors pages and the GOALS licensee search; verify.sos.ga.gov profession list; O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 14 as effective July 1, 2026.