This page is a notary scorecard. It is not a mailbox directory. Form 1583 is the Postal Service form you sign so a mailbox store can receive your mail. It appears here because mailbox signup is a common reason a Minnesota owner needs a notary this week. The form is the use-case. The mailbox store is someone else’s product.
Legal
This page is not legal advice. An in-state commission is a notary license from Minnesota. A Minnesota-commissioned notary may perform remote online notarization after filing a Remote Online Notarization Authorization with the Secretary of State. Minnesota does not mail a second Online Notary Public card. The notary must already have recorded the commission in the county. A regular Minnesota notary who never finished that authorization still has to be in the room. A same-room electronic seal is a different Minnesota product: the signer is still physically present. A bank, a commercial mailbox (CMRA), or the Postal Service still decides whether this packet may be remote.
Not legal advice.
The Minnesota grade that is not a company letter
We grade the state rule first. Remote online notarization (RON) is a video session with a notary. A company cannot turn a regular Minnesota notary into a remote online notary. It also cannot erase the remote path Minnesota opened on January 1, 2019, when Minnesota Statutes § 358.645 took effect.
Minnesota (the state rule)
State rule · September 2026- In-state RON
- A
- Signer RON access
- A
- Walk-in / mobile backup
- C
Primary sources: Minnesota Secretary of State, Remote Online Notarization Authorization; SOS Remote Online Notarization Authorization FAQ; Minn. Stat. §§ 358.645, 358.61, 359.01. Country context: NASS and NNA. Secondary vendor map: Proof, July 8, 2026, not the country authority.
Two Minnesota jobs, and why a webcam is not a regular commission
The Secretary of State is the Minnesota notary desk. The governor appoints the commission, and the county records it.
- Remote online notarization is a notarial act for a person outside the room. Minn. Stat. § 358.645, subd. 1, requires live sight and sound. Before the first remote act, the notary registers with the Secretary of State and certifies that the technology conforms to the statute.
- Same-room electronic seal is a notarial act on an electronic record while the signer is present. It has been on the books since July 1, 2006. Physical presence is still required. That signup is separate, and it is not a $25 video checkout.
Minnesota does not mail a second Online Notary Public card the way Texas, Florida, or Tennessee does. § 358.645, subd. 2, treats the remote notary as a chapter 359 notary under the same commission number. The term runs with that commission. If it expires, re-register. The form states “NO Fee is due for remote online notarization authorization.” The Notary Commission Guide gives the electronic-seal signup the same zero authorization fee.
County filing comes before that registration. The notary must already be active, have filed in the county of residence, and be able to prove the filing. If not, finish Minn. Stat. §§ 359.061, subd. 1, and 357.021, subd. 2(12). The FAQ lists $120, nonrefundable, payable to the Secretary of State, plus a $20 county registration fee.
There is no state vendor catalog. The notary’s own certification is what ties the technology to § 358.645. NNA’s how-to, updated December 15, 2025, says the Secretary of State endorses no brand and lists several platforms, including Notarize.
§ 358.645, subd. 7(b), allows personal knowledge, or a current government photo ID presented remotely, credential analysis, and identity proofing together. Subd. 5 requires at least five questions, at least five choices, a third-party data source, two minutes, and at least 80 percent correct, with one retry that repeats no more than three questions. If the check cannot finish, a mobile notary or a walk-in can finish.
§ 358.645, subd. 4, requires a secure electronic journal and an audio and video copy for at least ten years after the transaction, plus a backup. A written agreement may park the file with the employer or another repository, and the notary still owns the ten-year duty. The certificate must say the act was remote. Subd. 7(d) and subd. 11. Subd. 12 says the file is not ordinary government data.
§ 358.645, subd. 3(a), requires the notary to be physically in Minnesota. The signer may be in this state, another state, or outside the United States. Abroad, the notary must have no actual knowledge of a ban, and the signer must tie the record to a U.S. court or government matter, U.S. property, or a deal substantially connected to the United States. Subd. 7(a) may still treat the act as valid if the signer is elsewhere. The section sets out no Wisconsin-style estate-planning carve-out. Subd. 7(e) satisfies a Minnesota appearance rule.
Statute notes
The Secretary of State is the notary desk in this state. The governor appoints the commission. The county records it. Mixing those labels into one “is video legal in Minnesota?” checkout is how documents get sent back.
- Remote online notarization is a notarial act for a person who is not in the room. Minn. Stat. § 358.645, subd. 1: live sight and sound. Before the first remote act, the notary registers that capability with the Secretary of State and certifies that the technology conforms to the statute. Unapproved meeting apps are not a promise that the session matches § 358.645.
- A same-room electronic seal is a notarial act on an electronic record while the signer is still physically present. The live SOS E-Notarization Authorization page: electronic notarization has been on the books since July 1, 2006. Physical presence is still required. That path is a separate SOS signup. It is not a $25 video checkout.
Minnesota does not mail a second Online Notary Public card the way Texas, Florida, or Tennessee does. § 358.645, subd. 2: a remote online notary is already a chapter 359 notary. The SOS records the remote registration under that same commission number. The term runs with the current commission. If the commission expires, the live SOS Remote Online Notarization Authorization page: re-register. The SOS authorization form we retrieved prints “NO Fee is due for remote online notarization authorization.” The SOS Notary Commission Guide we retrieved says the same for both the remote and the electronic-seal signups. Those are authorization prices. They are not a session sticker.
The county filing is the gate before the SOS email. The live SOS remote-authorization page: you must already be an active Minnesota notary, have filed the commission in the county where you live, and be able to produce proof of that filing. If you have not filed, finish Minn. Stat. §§ 359.061, subd. 1, and 357.021, subd. 2(12), first. The SOS Notary FAQ we retrieved: commission application $120, nonrefundable, payable to the Secretary of State, plus a $20 county registration fee. Contact the county for its filing desk. Those are commission prices. They are not a video-session price.
The SOS does not sell a Minnesota-approved vendor catalog the way some states do. The notary certifies that the technology conforms to § 358.645. NNA’s Minnesota how-to (updated December 15, 2025) says the Secretary of State does not endorse a brand and lists several platforms as end-to-end remote solutions, including Notarize. We cite that as secondary. We will not reprint a snapshot catalog. A consumer meeting app is not automatically the Minnesota remote path. Do not assume every Minnesota notary on a checkout screen already received the SOS authorization email.
The ID check is not a courtesy box. § 358.645, subd. 7(b) gives two ways to know the remote signer: personal knowledge, or all three of remote presentation of a current government photo ID, credential analysis of that ID, and identity proofing. Subd. 5: when identity proofing is used, knowledge-based authentication must present at least five questions with at least five answer choices, drawn from a third-party data source, answered in two minutes, with at least 80 percent correct. One extra try is allowed. The second try may repeat no more than three questions. Credential analysis must scan the ID and confirm it is valid and matches the claimed identity. If those steps cannot finish, a mobile notary or a walk-in becomes the product that can finish.
The session file is part of the act. § 358.645, subd. 4: keep a secure electronic journal and create an audio and video copy of the act. Keep both at least ten years after the date of the transaction. Keep a backup. The notary may, by written agreement, park the file with the employer or another repository. The notary still owns the ten-year duty. The certificate must say the act was a remote online notarization. Subd. 7(d) and subd. 11. Subd. 12: that journal and recording are not ordinary government data. The notary may share a copy only with the person whose signature was notarized, or that person’s guardian, conservator, attorney-in-fact, or personal representative, unless that person consents to a release.
The notary must sit in Minnesota. § 358.645, subd. 3(a): a remote online notary may perform a remote act only while physically located in this state. The signer may be in Minnesota, in another state, or, with extra limits, outside the United States. If the signer is outside the United States, the notary must have no actual knowledge that the foreign place bans the act, and the signer must confirm the record concerns a U.S. court or government matter, U.S. property, or a deal substantially connected to the United States. Subd. 7(a): the act may still be valid even if the signer is not in Minnesota.
§ 358.645 does not print a Wisconsin-style estate-planning carve-out. Subd. 7(e): a remote online notarial act that meets this section satisfies any Minnesota law that wants the signer to appear, or to appear in the presence of a notary. That is a presence rule. It is not a promise that a probate desk, a title desk, or a bank will take tonight’s video file. If the receiving desk printed “in person” or “wet ink,” do not buy a video session to argue with them.
What actually needs a notary on a Minnesota LLC / bank stack
A Minnesota LLC is formed by signing and filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State. Minn. Stat. § 322C.0201: one or more organizers sign and file those articles. Minn. Stat. § 5.15 is blunter than most state filing desks: no document submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State shall be required to be notarized. Signing the filing is the acknowledgment and the oath. People still show up asking for a notary because a bank, a processor, a landlord, or a mailbox asked for a sworn statement on a different printed document that sits next to the LLC.
| Document | Typical notary question | Video vs an ink signature |
|---|---|---|
| MN LLC Articles of Organization (Minn. Stat. § 322C.0201) | Usually none for the Secretary of State filing itself. Live statute: organizer signature. § 5.15: no SOS filing shall be required to be notarized. We did not read a notarization requirement on the live Articles of Organization form we retrieved. | Do not buy a video session because a blog said “LLCs need a notary.” Confirm the live form. |
| Bank signup documents (resolutions, signature cards, sworn statements) | The bank’s current checklist. Some desks accept a Minnesota remote online notary or an out-of-state video notary. Some want a printed document signed in ink. | Ask the desk before you pay $25. The bank sets its own notary rule. § 358.61 can make an out-of-state act effective here. The desk can still say no. |
| Operating agreement or statutory short-form power of attorney | The acknowledgment type printed on the form. Minn. Stat. § 523.23: a statutory short-form power of attorney needs the principal’s signature acknowledged. | A Minnesota remote online notary is often enough if the desk accepts a remote act. If they printed “in person” or “wet ink,” that is a mobile notary or a walk-in. A same-room electronic seal still needs the signer in the room. |
| PS Form 1583 (mailbox signup) | Yes, a notary public licensed in a U.S. state, territory, possession, or DC, or the mailbox store employee in person. June 2024 form. | The form’s own note allows a live video call. A Minnesota remote online notary or an out-of-state video notary can both fit that sentence. Using a random picture pasted on the PDF is a common reject. See the 1583 page. |
| Vehicle title, motor-vehicle power of attorney, real-estate closing | The Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services desk, the title company, the lender, or the closing desk, not this site, decides whether a remote act is enough. | We have not read a current DVS or title-company rule that we can quote as a statewide video policy. If the desk wants ink, do not buy a video session to argue with them. |
| Will, trust, health-care directive, or other estate-planning document | § 358.645 does not print a separate estate-planning carve-out. Subd. 7(e) can satisfy a Minnesota appearance rule. The receiving probate desk still decides whether this packet may be remote. | We have not read a current Minnesota probate-desk rule that we can quote as a statewide video policy. Do not buy an out-of-state e-will to argue with a Minnesota desk we have not read. If the desk wants ink in the room, that is a mobile notary or a walk-in. |
We do not publish a bank-by-bank or county-by-county “accepts video” list we have not read on that desk’s page this month. If you need the operating address so a bank will open the account, that is a different product. It is not this site’s directory.
Open all night versus booked, in this state
Because in-state remote online notarization is live, all-night service is a real option for many Minnesota documents, if the receiving desk will take a remote act, and if the notary actually received the SOS authorization email. A Minnesota remote online notary or a notary licensed in another video-notary state can both close that session. Company availability letters live on the directory, once.
If the desk wants a regular Minnesota notary in the room, the identity check fails, or the person you hired never filed the Remote Online Notarization Authorization, you are shopping store hours or a booked house call. That is the C on walk-in / mobile showing up as a calendar. It is not a failure of § 358.645.
The SOS Notary Commission Guide we retrieved: you may charge up to $5 for most notarial acts, pointing to Minn. Stat. § 357.17. The SOS Notary FAQ reprints that same $5 schedule for protests, affidavits, and oaths. § 358.645, subd. 3(c) once let a remote online notary or the notary’s employer charge no more than $25, if the act occurs before January 1, 2023. That date has passed. The live SOS Remote Online Notarization Authorization FAQ we retrieved still reprints the old $25 sentence. We cite the statute’s date. Minnesota does not publish a live $25 remote-act cap. NNA’s Minnesota how-to (updated December 15, 2025) treats the current remote-act maximum as $5. That is secondary. The consumer starting prices we cite on company cards, about $25 a session, are still the official pages retrieved August 2026. Those are company stickers, not a Minnesota fee schedule.
Company letters live on the directory
Availability, identity check, and session-record letters for Proof/Notarize, NotaryLive, OneNotary, BlueNotary, mobile, and walk-in are on the directory, once. This page keeps the Minnesota rule and the document table. Official starting prices we cite: NotaryLive about $25 per session; Proof/Notarize about $25 for the first notarization and $15 for each extra notarization; OneNotary online about $25 and mobile from about $80. BlueNotary does not publish a session price. Independent Minnesota mobiles are not that OneNotary sticker. Counters set their own prices at or below the statute schedule we can quote.
Form 1583 as a Minnesota use-case, without becoming a mailbox review
USPS will not let a commercial mailbox (CMRA) hand you mail until PS Form 1583 (June 2024) is complete. Form 1583 is the Postal Service form you sign so that store can receive your mail. You sign in person with the store (or an authorized employee) or with a notary public. The form’s note allows a live video call. A Minnesota signer can use a Minnesota remote online notary or an out-of-state remote notary. That is the same idea as Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Other states have their own rules. See California, Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, or Massachusetts if that is your state.
What we will not do here: grade mailbox brands, pick a Minneapolis or Saint Paul storefront, or explain store flags. Those are mailbox questions. The notary question is: did the session match the form (U.S.-licensed notary, two IDs, home address matching the address ID), and will the store accept that session? Details live on Form 1583 notarization.
A sequence that usually wastes less money
- Read the receiving desk’s current instruction. If they printed “in person” or “wet ink,” do not buy a video session to argue with them.
- If they accept a remote electronic act on an ordinary document, you may use a Minnesota remote online notary or a notary licensed in another video-notary state. The Secretary of State is the authority for the Remote Online Notarization Authorization and the public notary search. NASS and NNA are the country sources. The company’s live notary pool is the day-of fact. Do not assume every Minnesota notary on a checkout screen already received the SOS email.
- Budget the extras from the official page, extra notarization, extra signer, witness, before you upload a six-signature packet at the $25 sticker. The five dollars in § 357.17 is the Minnesota notary-act schedule we can quote for ordinary acts. It is not a promise that a video company’s checkout stops at $5.
- If the identity check fails, or the signer will not agree to the recording, stop treating “try again after midnight” as a plan. Switch to a mobile notary or a walk-in. NotaryLive’s FAQ describes a Personal Verifier path. That is their product, not a universal escape hatch.
- Keep the session confirmation. The value of a Minnesota remote session in a later dispute is the recording § 358.645 already requires the notary to keep for at least ten years. The value of a walk-in is the ink the desk already said it wanted.
Sources
- Minnesota Secretary of State, Remote Online Notarization Authorization: effective January 1, 2019; Minn. Stat. §§ 358 and 359; notary must be physically in Minnesota; active commission plus county filing under §§ 359.061 and 357.021, subd. 2(12); register with the Secretary of State under § 359.01, subd. 5, and certify conforming technology under § 358.645, subd. 2; registration runs with the current commission; re-register after the commission expires.
- Minnesota SOS, Remote Online Notarization Authorization FAQ: active Minnesota notary plus a formal registration that the notary intends to use communication technology under § 358.645; search the Minnesota Notary Public Website to see if a notary is authorized; no fee to terminate the registration. The FAQ we retrieved still reprints the pre-2023 $25 remote-act sentence from § 358.645, subd. 3(c). The statute’s date is the rule we quote.
- Minnesota SOS, Remote Online Notarization Authorization form: no fee for the authorization; county filing proof required; SOS emails acceptance and records it on the commission; re-register if the commission expires; terminate only through the online commission record at notary.sos.mn.gov.
- Minnesota SOS, E-Notarization Authorization: electronic notarization enacted July 1, 2006; physical presence still required; separate registration or re-registration with the Secretary of State. See also the E-Notarization Authorization form: no fee for that signup.
- Minnesota SOS, Notary FAQ: commission $120, nonrefundable, plus a $20 county registration fee; fees charged to the public are stated in Minn. Stat. § 357.17.
- Minnesota SOS Notary Commission Guide: separate authorizations for remote online notarization and electronic notarization; no fee for either authorization; electronic notarization keeps the signer in the room; remote online notarization is a live audio/video call; “up to $5 for most notarial acts,” citing § 357.17. The guide we retrieved cites “Chapter 359.645.” The live statute is § 358.645.
- Minn. Stat. § 358.645 (Remote Online Notarization Act; 2018 c 176 art 1 s 15): registration required; notary in this state; signer in Minnesota, another U.S. place, or outside the United States with a U.S.-purpose test; personal knowledge or remote presentation plus credential analysis plus identity proofing; knowledge-based authentication minimums; electronic journal and audio-video recording at least ten years; certificate must note a remote online act; a qualifying remote act satisfies a Minnesota appearance rule; $25 remote-act cap only if the act occurs before January 1, 2023.
- Minn. Stat. § 358.61: a notarial act performed in another state has the same effect here if performed by that state’s notary or other authorized officer.
- Minn. Stat. § 359.01: governor commissions; Secretary of State administers; $120 application fee; subd. 5 is the electronic-notarization registration the SOS remote page also cites.
- Minn. Stat. § 359.061: record the commission in the county of residence (or the designated Minnesota county for a nonresident).
- Minn. Stat. § 357.021, subd. 2(12): $20 to record a notary commission.
- Minn. Stat. § 357.17: $5 figures for protests, affidavits, and oaths; acknowledgments of deeds and other authorized services take “the legal fees allowed other officers for like services.”
- Minn. Stat. § 5.15: no document submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State shall be required to be notarized. See also § 322C.0201 and the SOS Articles of Organization form: organizer signature. We did not read a notarization requirement.
- Minn. Stat. § 523.23: a statutory short-form power of attorney needs the principal’s signature acknowledged.
- NNA, How to Become a Remote Online Notary in Minnesota (updated December 15, 2025): traditional commission first; county filing; SOS authorization form; no training or exam required for registration; SOS does not endorse a vendor; no extra remote bond. Secondary for process. The Secretary of State is primary.
- NASS, Remote Electronic Notarization: country-level enacted-law count.
- NNA, What is a Remote Online Notary?: notary-side status, including states that have not authorized RON.
- Proof RON map (July 8, 2026), labeled secondary vendor map. Proof is also a listed vendor on this site.
- Notarize consumer pricing: $25 / $15 / $15 / $10.
- NotaryLive pricing: $25/session; extras; 10-year storage.
- OneNotary individuals pricing: $25 online; mobile from $80.
- PS Form 1583, June 2024.