e-notary services

What is a remote notarisation or e-notarisation?

Until 2023 all documents which required notarisation had to be paper-based and in the physical presence of the notary. Whereas before 2023 e-apostille was offered as an option the notaries could not do it due to lack of firm guidance from the Regulator. Notaries must, in accordance with their faculty, be physically located in England and Wales when using remote technologies. The guidance does not remove the need for notaries to satisfy themselves as far as practicable that the procedures followed normally when the client is physically present are the same when done remotely.


It is important to begin with the distinction between electronic “notarisation” and remote “notarisation”. In many cases, remote “notarisation” will take place electronically.

  1. Electronic “notarisation” the issuing of a notarial act in electronic form with the notary and any person intervening in the act using an electronic signature and with any attachments being in electronic form. The act could be performed on a remote or in-person basis (e.g. an intervener could attend the notary’s office and sign an electronic document on screen using a mouse or stylus pen).
  2. Remote “notarisation”/ e-notarisation the issuing of a notarial act where an intervener has not appeared in person before the notary. The act could be electronic or on paper (e.g. a document could be signed by an intervener on paper with the notary observing proceedings via video link with the document then sent to the notary by post to sign and seal).

Which remote notary services can I use from your company?

The following documents/circumstances are provided by us:

  1. Company documents (notarisation of incorporation documents, articles of association, memorandum, etc.)
  2. Degrees (notarisation of degrees)
  3. Contracts (but not ones signed as a deed)
  4. Forms, permissions (but not statutory declarations or oaths)
  5. US documents and acknowledgements
  6. General documents

Which documents we cannot notarise remotely?

  1. Deeds - the position with deeds is complex – there is no specific rule against it but the Law Commission could not find legal authority for it having been accepted so could not confirm it was ok. They didn’t go so far as saying it is not ok. Therefore until such authority is confirmed 100% we have taken the decision to continue doing paper-based and in person physical appearance.
  2. Statutory declarations, Oaths, affidavits: Affidavits and statutory declarations are not necessarily excluded from e-notarisation. There are various arguments as to whether they are valid if done remotely or not. Therefore until such authority is confirmed 100% we have taken the decision to continue doing paper-based and in person physical appearance.

What are the requirements?

  1. You need to have a valid passport or ID
  2. Need to have very good knowledge of how to connect to video remote meeting; we are not able to provide technical support
  3. Be alone in the room
  4. Have 2 proof of address not older than 3 months

Is this the service for me?

You must contact the person/institution/ company asking for e-notarisation and/or legalised documents and check with them if they need/accept:

  1. A paper-based notarised document and apostille, or whether it can be an e-notarised document and/or e-Apostille (if this is available for your document)
  2. A single apostille for a group of documents, or a separate apostille for each document. Remember the notary must group these documents before-hand in readiness for apostille and if these documents are not grouped correctly or are not accepted in the form they have been grouped the whole process needs to be redone.

What is an e-apostille?

An e-apostille is an electronic version of the paper-based apostille. It can only be applied on an e-document and/or on an e-notarised document. A paper based notarised document cannot have an e-apostille and an e-document or e-notarised document cannot have a paper-based apostille.

One can only use the FCDO app to apply and the e-App is a matter for the FCDO but the turnaround time is supposed to be the same as the postal service. In reality it seems to be faster and saves the postal delays

You cannot get an e-Apostille for:

  1. birth, death, marriage, civil partnership and adoption certificates, or any other document from the General Register Office
  2. ACRO police certificates for England and Wales
  3. Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) certificates for England and Wales
  4. disclosure certificates for Scotland and Northern Ireland
  5. fingerprint certificates
  6. membership certificates for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

Which documents can be e-apostilled?

There is no finite list, many EU countries are accepting e-notarised documents as are South American countries. However, it varies from authority to authority and you should check before instructing us. Over time, we will be able to build up an indicative list but it will never be definitive as the answer may differ in country for different documents