In the vast majority of the United States, notarizations are required to be performed on physical paper while physically in front of a notary. However, Virginia has authorized notaries within their state to notarize electronic documents on the basis of a digital signature & stamp, once the person seeking the notarization appears in front of the said notary (and verifies their identity) via video.
Are state or federal agencies located in other states required to accept such notarizations, if electronic notarizations aren't authorized in their location?
The National Notary Association suggests that such notarizations might be valid nation-wide on the basis of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution:
Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.
However, I am not sure that a notarization qualifies as a public act
or record
.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State of California has released an alert advising California notaries that they may not perform online notarizations. Although it does not touch upon whether Californians get receive valid notarizations from other states via the internet, it does say
California law requires a person to appear personally before a notary public to obtain notarial acts like acknowledgments or jurats. This means the party must be physically present before the notary public.
Hence my question. If a state or federal agency is operating in a jurisdiction that does not allow online notarizations, are such notarizations from other states over the internet valid? In other words, must a public agency in CA, for example, accept the notarization received by a Californian over the internet from an electronic notary in Virginia?