Electronic Notarization

The distinction in one line

Electronic notarization describes the format of the document. Remote online notarization describes how the signer appeared. They answer different questions, which is why a notarization can be one, both, or neither.

In a traditional in-person electronic notarization — sometimes called IPEN — you sit in the same room as the notary and sign a digital document on a screen. In a remote online notarization you appear over live video from anywhere, and the document is electronic as well. Rush Notary performs the second kind.

Why the difference matters

States authorise these separately, and a state permitting one does not automatically permit the other. Several states allowed electronic notarization for years before authorising any remote appearance, so “electronic notarization is legal here” does not answer whether a remote session is.

The identity requirements differ too. A remote session layers credential analysis and knowledge-based authentication on top of the ID check, precisely because the notary cannot physically inspect your identification.

What stays the same

The notarial act itself does not change with the format. A jurat is still a jurat, an acknowledgment is still an acknowledgment, and the certificate must still record the venue, the date, the act and the signer.

The seal changes form rather than function: an electronic seal carries the same name, commission number and expiry as a physical stamp, usually protected by a digital certificate so that any later alteration to the document is detectable.

The vocabulary

The terms are used loosely in the wild. “Digital notarization,” “e-notary” and “online notary” get applied to all of it, and receiving agencies are rarely precise. When a form or an institution says it needs an electronic notarization, it is worth asking whether they mean the document format, a remote appearance, or both.