North Dakota video notary vs mobile: a notary located in North Dakota can finish a live video session after a FirstStop amendment; the act cap is $5; a remote ink acknowledgment is a different job

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 North Dakota owner needs a notary. The form is the use-case. The mailbox store is someone else’s product.

The North Dakota 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 North Dakota commission into a FirstStop amendment. It also cannot turn a $25 company sticker into the $5 cap in § 44-06.1-28. Neighboring Montana prints $10 for a listed act. Neighboring Minnesota’s extra step has a different name. North Dakota’s electronic video path is open after the amendment, the act cap is one number, and the recording floor is 10 years. That is why the in-state path is an A. The remote ink job is not this grade.

A $5 cap, a FirstStop amendment, and two remote jobs

Mixing the labels into one “is video legal in North Dakota?” checkout is how a Fargo owner pays a company price and still has a notary who never filed the amendment. North Dakota video work is legal. It is not automatic on the day the ordinary commission arrives.

• Remote online notarization is a notarial act for a remotely located individual on an electronic record. Communication technology means you and the notary can see and hear each other at the same time. § 44-06.1-13.1. The notary is located in North Dakota. You are not in the same room. The Secretary of State calls this remote online notarization and says the record is signed electronically.
• Remote ink notarization is a different job. The office’s heading is “Remote Ink Notarization (RIN) - Paper Documents.” The office says the only act on that path is an acknowledgment, and that the record will include a “wet-ink signature.” The signer has the tangible record, signs it during the session, and sends the record and a declaration to the notary within 3 days. The effective date is the date the signer signed the declaration. A video checkout on an electronic record is not this job.
• An in-person electronic act is a third job. The signer is still in the room. Both people sign the electronic record. The office says this follows the ordinary rules “except for the requirement of the notary stamp,” and that the “official stamp” may be included but is not required when the certificate already shows the notary’s name, the date, the jurisdiction, and the title. A video checkout is not that in-room product.

The start date is the constitution plus the filing line, not a blog. House Bill 1110 created § 44-06.1-13.1 and the remote journal section, § 44-06.1-16.1. The 2019 session-law table lists that bill as chapter 376. The bill overview says the governor signed it and the last official action was filed with the Secretary of State on 03/08. The enrolled bill we read does not set a different date and does not declare an emergency. Article IV, section 13 says a law from the regular session takes effect on August 1 after its filing, when that filing is before August 1. That is August 1, 2019. The Secretary of State remote page does not print this date.

House Bill 1083 amended the same section. The 2023 session-law table lists it as chapter 399. The 2023 overview says the last official action was filed on 03/16. The same constitutional rule puts that amendment on August 1, 2023. That later date is the tangible-record path. It is not a second start date for the electronic video job. The current code we read already includes the 3-day send and the declaration.

The ordinary commission comes first. § 44-06.1-20: the applicant is at least 18, a United States citizen or permanent legal resident, able to read and write English, and not disqualified under § 44-06.1-21. The person is a North Dakota resident, or has a place of employment or practice in North Dakota, or lives in a county that borders North Dakota in a state that extends the same courtesy to a North Dakota notary in a border county. The become-a-notary page prints the same list. We did not read a page that says Minnesota or Montana has granted that border-county courtesy. We will not fill that in. Before the commission, the applicant signs an oath in the presence of a notary and files a $7,500 surety bond, form SFN 19355, covering the term. The fee is $36. On compliance, the Secretary of State issues a commission for four years. The become-a-notary page says the term starts at 12:00 a.m. on the commencement date and ends at midnight on the expiration date. You may not notarize outside that window. The same page does not print an exam or a course price. We will not invent either one.

The commission is not the remote permission. § 44-06.1-13.1(12): before the first remote act, the notary notifies the Secretary of State and identifies the technologies. The remote page is more specific than the word “notify.” You file a Notary Public Amendment in the FirstStop portal. You say whether you will do electronic acts, remote acts, or both. You name the provider. The maintain-your-commission page says the same notice is required before those acts. The pages we read do not print a dollar fee for the amendment. A provider has to be able to meet chapter 44-06.1. The office’s example is a tool that handles the live video but does not keep the recording for 10 years. That tool does not comply. If the Secretary of State has set standards for the technology or the identity proofing, the notary’s tools must meet them. We did not find a standards page that replaces the example list.

Read the fee sentences before you treat a company price as North Dakota law. § 44-06.1-28: a notary may charge not more than $5 per notarial act. Charging more is an infraction. The same subsection says it is an infraction for any person other than the notary to impose or collect a fee, charge, or commission in connection with the notarization. We print that sentence. We do not decide how a company checkout fits it. A travel fee is allowed only if you agree first and the notary explains that the travel fee is separate and is neither specified nor mandated by law. A technology fee, for a remote act or an electronic-record act, is allowed only if the notary incurred a technology cost, you agree first, and the notary explains that the technology fee is separate from the act fee. The section does not print a dollar cap for travel or for technology. The performing-notarial-acts page prints the same $5 cap and the same two extra fees. Company starting prices on the directory, about $25 a session, are company stickers. They are not a second North Dakota fee schedule.

The identity check is not a courtesy. For a remote signer, § 44-06.1-13.1 wants personal knowledge, a credible witness, or at least two different types of identity proofing. The remote page’s example of identity proofing is knowledge-based questions answered online. The statute and that page do not print a quiz length, a pass score, or a wait time after a failed quiz. The 80 percent figures on other state pages are not this statute. If the check cannot be finished, a mobile notary or a walk-in is the product that can finish. For an in-room act, § 44-06.1-06 accepts personal knowledge, a credible witness, or a current passport, driver’s license, or government identification card, or one that expired not more than three years before the act. That ID sentence is the in-room rule. It is not a promise that a video quiz uses the same card.

If you are outside the United States, § 44-06.1-13.1(3)(d) adds a purpose test. The record has to be filed with, or relate to, a United States court, public official, government, or other covered entity, or it has to involve property in the United States or a transaction substantially connected with the United States. The act of signing also must not be prohibited in the foreign state where you are. The notary’s chair is narrower than yours. The statute says the notary is located in this state. The remote page does not print a second location rule that lets the notary leave North Dakota.

The recording is part of the act. § 44-06.1-13.1(11): keep the audiovisual recording for at least 10 years, unless a rule sets a different period. We did not read a rule that prints a different year count. The certificate has to say the act used communication technology. The short form the statute accepts includes the sentence “This notarial act involved the use of communication technology.”

A journal is not the same thing as that recording. § 44-06.1-16.1: keep a journal of notarial acts performed for a remotely located individual, for ten years after the last act in that journal. The remote page says both the recording and the journal are saved for 10 years. The statute is more precise about the journal. The 10-year recording clock starts when the recording is made. The journal clock runs 10 years after the last act in that journal. We will not merge them into one clock. The section we read requires that journal for remote acts. We will not invent a journal duty for every in-room act.

A bordering-state notary is a different sentence. § 44-06.1-09(4) says a notarial act performed in North Dakota by a notarial officer of a bordering state has the same effect as a North Dakota act, if that bordering state grants North Dakota notaries similar authority. The statute prints the “if.” We did not read a current Minnesota or Montana page that answers the “if” for this sentence. Neighbor pages on this site: Minnesota and Montana.

The example list names companies and does not endorse them

The remote page we retrieved in October 2026 lists examples of companies that provide remote notarization solutions. The page says the list is not complete. It says the Secretary of State does not endorse any provider. It says a notary does not have to pick from the list. The names on that list include NotaryLive, Proof, OneNotary, and BlueNotary. Other names are on the same list. We will not reprint every row. A name on an example list is not a statement that the notary on your screen has filed the North Dakota amendment, and it is not a statement that the provider keeps the recording for 10 years. The office tells the notary to check that before paying.

A person in North Dakota can still use a notary commissioned in another video state if the receiving desk accepts that act. That out-of-state session is § 44-06.1-10. It is not a North Dakota FirstStop amendment. The notary on a North Dakota video act still has to be located in North Dakota, and still has to have filed the amendment.

What actually needs a notary on a North Dakota bank stack

People show up asking for a notary because a bank, a processor, a landlord, or a mailbox asked for a sworn statement. We did not read a current North Dakota LLC articles form for a filing fee or a notarization line on this pass. We will not invent either number. If the live Secretary of State business screen asks for something else, ask that desk before you pay.

We did not read a will ban or a real-estate closing ban in § 44-06.1-13.1. That is not permission to ignore the desk that will receive your document. If the desk wants you in the room, do not buy a video session to argue with them. 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.

Open all night versus booked, in this state

A same-session electronic video act can be a North Dakota remote notary who already filed the amendment, or an out-of-state video notary, if the receiving desk will take that act. Company availability letters live on the directory, once. The $5 cap does not keep a counter open after it closes.

If the desk wants you and a North Dakota notary in the same room, the identity check fails, or the notary never filed the amendment, you are shopping store hours or a booked house call. That is the B on walk-in / mobile. It is not a failure of the 2019 statute. It is the live backup. Minnesota’s extra step is an authorization with a different name. Montana’s listed act is capped at $10, not $5.

The $5 in § 44-06.1-28 is the North Dakota cap we can quote. It is not a promise that a video company’s checkout stops at $5 when the company adds a witness or another signer, and it is not a UPS price. The consumer starting prices we cite on company cards, about $25 a session, are still the official pages retrieved August 2026. Counters set their own prices. The statute still says a fee above $5 for the notarial act is an infraction, and that a person other than the notary may not collect a fee in connection with the notarization.

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 North Dakota 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. We do not print a session price for BlueNotary. Those stickers are company prices. They are not the $5 cap, and they are not a statement that the notary on your screen filed a North Dakota amendment. NotaryLive and Proof are names on the example list. OneNotary and BlueNotary are names on that list too. The office does not endorse the list. Independent North Dakota mobiles are not that OneNotary sticker. Counters set their own prices inside the $5 act cap this page already printed.

Form 1583 as a North Dakota 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 North Dakota signer can use a North Dakota remote notary on an electronic record, if that notary is located in North Dakota and already filed the amendment, or an out-of-state remote notary, if the store accepts that session. Nearby pages: Minnesota and Montana.

What we will not do here: grade mailbox brands, pick a Fargo or Bismarck 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

1. Read the receiving desk’s current instruction. If they need you in the room, or they need a North Dakota notary in the room, do not buy a video session to argue with them.
2. If they accept a remote act, a North Dakota notary can do the electronic session only after the FirstStop amendment, and only while located in North Dakota. A remote ink acknowledgment is a different product. It is an acknowledgment, and the signer sends the tangible record within 3 days. You may also use a notary licensed in another video state. The Secretary of State is the authority for the amendment and for the example list. NASS and NNA are the country sources. The company’s live notary pool is the day-of fact. Proof and NotaryLive are example names. They are not an endorsement.
3. Budget the extras from the official page, extra act, extra signer, witness, before you upload a six-signature packet at the $25 sticker. The statute prints $5 per notarial act. It does not print a dollar for the technology fee. A witness fee on a company page is not a person sitting next to you.
4. If the identity check fails, stop treating “try again after midnight” as a plan the statute did not write. The remote section does not print a quiz length or a wait time. Switch to a mobile notary or a walk-in.
5. Keep the session confirmation. The value of a North Dakota remote session in a later dispute is the recording § 44-06.1-13.1 says to keep for at least 10 years, and the journal § 44-06.1-16.1 says to keep for 10 years after the last act. The value of a walk-in is the in-room act the desk already said it wanted. Do not count those two 10-year clocks as if they were the same sentence.