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 Pennsylvania owner needs a notary this week. The form is the use-case. The mailbox store is someone else’s product.
This page is not legal advice. An in-state commission is a notary license from Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania-commissioned notary may perform remote online notarization if that notary notified the Department of State and uses an approved communication-technology platform. Electronic notarization (e-notary) is a different Pennsylvania product: an electronic seal while the signer is still physically present. A regular Pennsylvania notary without that Department notice still has to be in the room. A bank, a commercial mailbox (CMRA), or the Postal Service still decides whether this packet may be remote.
The Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania notary into a remote online notary. It also cannot erase the remote-online path the Department of State has run since Act 97 of 2020 made that path permanent.
Pennsylvania (the state rule)
State rule · September 2026- In-state RON
- A
- Signer RON access
- A
- Walk-in / mobile backup
- C
Primary sources: Pennsylvania Department of State, Electronic or Remote Notarization; Notary public fees; 57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1. Country context: NASS and NNA. Secondary vendor map: Proof, July 8, 2026, not the country authority.
Two extra labels, and why a webcam is not enough
The Department of State is blunt: electronic notarization and remote online notarization are not the same job. Mixing them into one “is video legal in Pennsylvania?” question is how papers get sent back.
- Remote online notarization is a notarial act for a remotely located individual using communication technology. The Department’s page and 57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1: the notary is in Pennsylvania. The signer may be in Pennsylvania, another state, or, with extra limits, outside the United States. The session is live audio and video. Before the first remote act, the notary notifies the Department and names the approved technology. Act 97 of 2020, effective October 29, 2020, made that path permanent. Temporary remote work began earlier, on March 25, 2020. We cite the permanent rule.
- Electronic notarization (e-notary) is an electronic seal and electronic signature on an electronic file. The signer still personally appears in the room. The Department’s page: all other elements of a paper notarization still apply, including physical presence. Pennsylvania opened that electronic program on January 30, 2006. That is not a $25 video checkout.
The same Department application covers both extra labels. Approval lasts until the end of the four-year commission or until the chosen technology expires, whichever comes first. The notary may use only a vendor from the Department’s approved list. The public search shows “e-notary capable” after the vendor tells the Department the notary is authorized. Do not assume every Pennsylvania notary on a checkout screen already filed that notice.
The ID check is not a courtesy box. For a remote signer who is not personally known and who has no credible witness, the Department FAQ and § 306.1 require at least two kinds of identity proofing. Approved platforms include those steps. If the customer does not pass them, the remote notary may refuse the act. That is when a mobile notary or a walk-in becomes the product that can finish.
The session file is part of the act. The Department FAQ and 57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1(e): create an audio-visual recording of the whole interaction and keep it at least 10 years. The certificate must say the act used communication technology. That printed floor matches Florida and New York. It is longer than Arizona’s five years and longer than Illinois electronic notarization (about 7 years). We leave those numbers apart.
No extra Department education class is required for the electronic or remote add-on. The regular three-hour notary course already covers electronic notarization. The only bond we read is the $10,000 commission bond. The Department FAQ: no extra remote bond.
What actually needs a notary on a Pennsylvania LLC / bank stack
A Pennsylvania LLC is formed by filing a Certificate of Organization, form DSCB:15-8821, plus a docketing statement, form DSCB:15-134A, with the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. The live Certificate of Organization we retrieved asks organizers to sign. The signature is an unsworn statement under 18 Pa.C.S. § 4904. The Bureau’s filing guidelines are blunt: “Our forms do not require notarization.” 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 piece of paper that sits next to the LLC.
| Document | Typical notary question | Video vs ink on paper |
|---|---|---|
| PA LLC Certificate of Organization (DSCB:15-8821) and docketing statement (DSCB:15-134A) | Usually none for the Bureau filing itself. Live form: organizers sign. Bureau filing guidelines: the Bureau’s forms do not require notarization. | Do not buy a video session because a blog said “LLCs need a notary.” Confirm the live form. |
| Bank signup papers (resolutions, signature cards, sworn statements) | The bank’s current checklist. Some desks accept a Pennsylvania remote online notary or an out-of-state video notary. Some want ink on paper. | Ask the desk before you pay $25. We will not invent a bank’s notary rule. |
| Operating agreement or power of attorney the bank requested | The stamp type printed on the form. | A Pennsylvania 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. An e-notary 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 Pennsylvania remote online notary or an out-of-state video notary can both fit that sentence. Using a random PDF stamp is a common reject. See the 1583 page. |
| Vehicle title, motor-vehicle power of attorney, real-estate closing | PennDOT, 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 PennDOT 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 or estate paper | We did not read a clean statewide sentence that every Pennsylvania will may be a remote-online checkout. The receiving desk or the estate statute in front of you is the authority. | If we cannot quote a current official page that the desk will take a remote electronic will today, we will not invent it. When the desk wants ink on paper, 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 Pennsylvania papers, if the receiving desk will take a remote act, and if the notary actually holds Department approval and an approved platform. A Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania stamp on paper, the identity check fails, or the person you hired is only an e-notary, 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 the state rule.
The Department’s notary fee schedule prints a legal maximum for the notarial act itself. An acknowledgment is $5 for the first name. Electronic notaries and remote notaries may charge up to an additional $20 per notarial act for electronic records or communication technology. That is a state fee cap for a Pennsylvania-commissioned remote notary. It is not a company sticker and not a UPS price. Clerical fees, travel, and copies are separate and not set by the Department. The consumer starting prices we cite on company cards, about $25 a session, are still the official pages retrieved August 2026.
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 Pennsylvania rule and the document table. Official starting prices we cite: NotaryLive about $25 per session; Proof/Notarize about $25 for the first stamp and $15 for each extra stamp; OneNotary online about $25 and mobile from about $80. We do not invent a session price for BlueNotary. Independent Pennsylvania mobiles are not that OneNotary sticker. Counters set their own prices.
Form 1583 as a Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania signer can use a Pennsylvania remote online notary or an out-of-state remote notary. That is the same idea as Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. Other states have their own rules. See California or Georgia if that is your state.
What we will not do here: grade mailbox brands, pick a Philadelphia 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 will take an electronic seal only with both people in the room, that is Pennsylvania e-notary, not remote online.
- If they accept a remote act, you may use a Pennsylvania remote online notary or a notary licensed in another video-notary state. The Department of State is the authority for the in-state notice and the approved-platform list. NASS and NNA are the country sources. The company’s live notary pool is the day-of fact. Do not assume every Pennsylvania notary on a checkout screen already filed that Department notice.
- Budget the extras from the official page, extra stamp, extra signer, witness, before you upload a six-signature packet at the $25 sticker. The extra $20 in the Department fee schedule is the remote-act cap on top of the base act fee, not a promise that the company’s checkout stops there.
- If the identity check fails, stop treating “try again after midnight” as a plan. The Department FAQ: the remote notary may refuse the act if the customer does not pass the identity proofing built into the platform. 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 Pennsylvania remote session in a later dispute is the recording § 306.1 already requires the notary to keep for at least 10 years. The value of a walk-in is the ink the desk already said it wanted.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Electronic or Remote Notarization: e-notary vs remote online; electronic program since January 30, 2006; remote online temporary March 25, 2020, then Act 97 of 2020 effective October 29, 2020; notify the Department before the first electronic-record or remote act; use an approved technology.
- Pennsylvania Department of State, FAQs on electronic and remote notarization (revised November 30, 2020): notary commissioned in and located in this Commonwealth; two identity-proofing methods; audio-visual recording retained at least ten years; § 306.1; $10,000 commission bond and no extra remote bond; no extra education class for the add-on.
- 57 Pa.C.S. Chapter 3 (RULONA), including § 306.1: remotely located individual; notary in this Commonwealth; audio-visual recording; retain at least 10 years; Department notice before the first remote act. Official consolidated text also at palegis.us, § 306.1.
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Remote notarization — general information and requirements: Department notice; approved communication technology; notary physically in Pennsylvania; signer may be elsewhere, with extra limits outside the United States.
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Eight steps to becoming an electronic notary public: same application for electronic and remote approval; choose an approved vendor after Department approval; public record shows “e-notary capable” after the vendor notifies the Department.
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Notary public fees (page dated April 6, 2026): $5 acknowledgment for the first name; electronic and remote notaries may charge up to an additional $20 per notarial act for electronic records or communication technology. That is a state fee cap, not a company sticker.
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Pennsylvania Limited Liability Company: Certificate of Organization DSCB:15-8821 plus docketing statement DSCB:15-134A.
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Filing guidelines: “Our forms do not require notarization.”
- DSCB:15-8821, Certificate of Organization — Domestic Limited Liability Company: organizers sign; the signature is an unsworn statement under 18 Pa.C.S. § 4904. We did not read a notarization requirement on that form or its instructions.
- 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.