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 Virginia 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 Virginia. A Virginia-commissioned notary may perform remote online notarization only after registering as an electronic notary (eNotary) with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Electronic notary registration is not the same as a plain commission. A regular Virginia notary 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 Virginia 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 Virginia notary into an electronic notary. It also cannot erase the remote path the Secretary of the Commonwealth has run since Virginia authorized remote electronic notarization.
Virginia (the state rule)
State rule · September 2026- In-state RON
- A
- Signer RON access
- A
- Walk-in / mobile backup
- C
Primary sources: Secretary of the Commonwealth, Learn About Becoming an Electronic Notary; A Handbook for Virginia Notaries Public (revised July 1, 2026); Code of Virginia § 47.1-2. Country context: NASS and NNA. Secondary vendor map: Proof, July 8, 2026, not the country authority.
Two commissions, and why a webcam is not enough
The 2026 handbook is blunt. Virginia issues two commissions. Traditional notary public. Electronic notary public. Mixing them into one “is video legal in Virginia?” question is how papers get sent back.
- Remote online notarization is an electronic notarization where the signer is not in the physical presence of the notary. That is the Code of Virginia § 47.1-2 definition we retrieved. The handbook: there must be a live video and audio feed. The persons communicating must simultaneously see and speak to one another. The signal must be live, real time, and secure from interception. The electronic notarial certificate must say whether the act was done in person or by remote notarization. The remote act is deemed performed in Virginia at the place where the electronic notary is located. The certificate must name the Virginia city or county where that notary sat.
- Electronic notary registration is a second commission. The Secretary of the Commonwealth eNotary page: you must first be a commissioned Virginia notary. After the circuit court issues that certificate, you apply as an electronic notary. Code of Virginia § 47.1-7: name the technology, certify compliance with the § 47.1-6.1 electronic-notary standards, and send the form electronically with the electronic signature described on it. The SOS page we retrieved prices that application at $45, non-refundable. The handbook: buy the electronic seal first. The application needs that seal. If the Secretary approves you, you get an email. A regular commission does not come with that email.
A traditional Virginia notary still has to be in the room. The handbook: except for a remote electronic notarization, the person whose act is the subject of the notarial act must personally appear before the notary. Do not assume every Virginia notary on a checkout screen already holds the electronic commission.
The ID check is not a courtesy box. For a remote signer, § 47.1-2 and the handbook require a high identity threshold on top of the live video. The paths printed there are personal knowledge, a credible witness, antecedent in-person proofing, a digital certificate authenticated by biometrics or a NIST PIV / PIV-I card, credential analysis paired with another authorized method, or a knowledge-based authentication (KBA) quiz. The 2026 handbook says KBA is an explicitly allowed method for remote online notarization. If the customer does not pass those steps, the electronic 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. Code of Virginia § 47.1-14: if video and audio conference technology is the basis for identity, the electronic notary shall keep a copy of that recording. The electronic record of an electronic notarial act shall be maintained for at least five years from the date of the transaction. The same five-year floor applies to the electronic journal. That printed floor is shorter than the ten-year numbers we cite for Pennsylvania, Florida, and Washington. We leave those numbers next to each other, not blended.
A later course rule is not live tonight. The Code of Virginia pages we retrieved print a July 1, 2027 effective date for a required course of instruction and exam under § 47.1-5.2. Until that date, do not buy a “Virginia eNotary class” session that pretends the 2027 rule is already the gate.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth issues both commissions. Apostilles are a different office product. The notary commission, the electronic-notary registration, and the remote software description all go to the Secretary.
What actually needs a notary on a Virginia LLC / bank stack
A Virginia LLC is formed by filing Articles of Organization with the State Corporation Commission. The live SCC LLC forms page we retrieved prices Form LLC1011 at $100. The LLC1011 instructions we retrieved ask every organizer to sign. They do not ask for a notary. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| VA LLC Articles of Organization (Form LLC1011 / Code of Virginia Title 13.1) | Usually none for the State Corporation Commission filing itself. Live SCC LLC page: Form LLC1011 plus a $100 fee. LLC1011 instructions: organizers must sign. We did not read a notarization requirement on that page or those instructions. | 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 Virginia electronic 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. The 2026 handbook: Virginia notaries may notarize powers of attorney and wills. That sentence is about power, not about a desk that must take video. | A Virginia electronic 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. |
| 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 Virginia electronic 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 | The Department of Motor Vehicles 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 DMV 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 | The 2026 handbook says Virginia notaries may notarize wills. We did not read a clean statewide sentence that every Virginia 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 notarization is live, all-night service is a real option for many Virginia papers, if the receiving desk will take a remote act, and if the notary actually holds the electronic commission. A Virginia electronic 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 Virginia stamp on paper, the identity check fails, or the person you hired is only a traditional 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 Code prints a legal maximum for the notarial act itself. § 47.1-19: a traditional notarial act may cost up to $10. An electronic notarial act may cost up to $25. The 2026 handbook reprints those caps. That is a state fee cap for a Virginia-commissioned electronic notary. It is not a company sticker and not a UPS price. Travel expenses may be added if both people agree. 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 Virginia 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 Virginia mobiles are not that OneNotary sticker. Counters set their own prices.
Form 1583 as a Virginia 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 Virginia signer can use a Virginia electronic notary or an out-of-state remote notary. That is the same idea as Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. 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 Richmond 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 an in-person electronic notarization by a Virginia electronic notary, not remote online notarization.
- If they accept a remote act, you may use a Virginia electronic notary or a notary licensed in another video-notary state. The Secretary of the Commonwealth is the authority for the eNotary registration. NASS and NNA are the country sources. The company’s live notary pool is the day-of fact. Do not assume every Virginia notary on a checkout screen already holds the electronic commission.
- Budget the extras from the official page, extra stamp, extra signer, witness, before you upload a six-signature packet at the $25 sticker. The $25 in § 47.1-19 is the electronic-act cap for a Virginia-commissioned electronic notary, not a promise that the company’s checkout stops there.
- If the identity check fails, stop treating “try again after midnight” as a plan. § 47.1-2 wants a statutory identity path when the notary does not already know you. 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 Virginia remote session in a later dispute is the recording § 47.1-14 already requires the notary to keep for at least five years. The value of a walk-in is the ink the desk already said it wanted.
Sources
- Secretary of the Commonwealth, Learn About Becoming an Electronic Notary: traditional Virginia commission first; then the electronic-notary application under § 47.1-7; $45 non-refundable fee; technology description; certification under § 47.1-6.1; email approval. The live page we retrieved still points applicants to pages 6–9 of the 2024 handbook. We cite the current 2026 handbook below.
- Secretary of the Commonwealth, Notary Commissions: the Secretary commissions notaries under § 47.1-8; $45 application or renewal fee; traditional application must be notarized by a traditional Virginia notary, not an electronic notary.
- A Handbook for Virginia Notaries Public, Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, revised July 1, 2026: two commissions; eNotary requires a traditional commission plus a $45 application and an electronic seal; remote video and audio; identity methods including KBA; five-year journal and video record; $10 traditional / $25 electronic fee caps; certificate must say in person or remote; Virginia city or county where the electronic notary sat; Virginia notaries may notarize powers of attorney and wills.
- Code of Virginia § 47.1-2: remote online notarization means an electronic notarization where the signer is not in the physical presence of the notary; electronic notarial certificate must indicate in person or remote online notarization; satisfactory evidence of identity for an electronic notarization, including KBA.
- Code of Virginia Title 47.1, Chapter 2: § 47.1-6.1 electronic-notarization standards; § 47.1-7 extra electronic-notary registration. Course-and-exam text under § 47.1-5.2 is printed as effective July 1, 2027.
- Code of Virginia § 47.1-14: electronic journal; keep a copy of the video and audio conference when that technology is the identity basis; electronic record kept at least five years.
- Code of Virginia § 47.1-19: up to $10 for a traditional notarial act; up to $25 for an electronic notarial act. Those are state fee caps, not a company sticker.
- Virginia State Corporation Commission, Virginia Limited Liability Companies: Form LLC1011, $100. LLC1011 instructions: organizers must sign. We did not read a notarization requirement on that page or those instructions.
- NASS, Remote Electronic Notarization: in 2011 Virginia became the first state to authorize remote electronic notarization; country-level enacted-law count.
- NNA, How to Become a Remote Electronic Notary in Virginia (updated April 21, 2022): traditional commission first; electronic seal; $45 eNotary fee; House Bill 2318 / Senate Bill 827 signed March 26, 2011; Secretary published electronic notarization standards January 21, 2013. We re-checked the live SOS pages, the 2026 handbook, and Title 47.1. NNA is secondary for process. The Secretary of the Commonwealth is primary.
- 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.