If you’re a New York State notary who jumped on the Remote Online Notary (RON) bandwagon, you might find yourself in a familiar boat right now: you love the flexibility and demand for digital closings, but suddenly clients are asking for traditional, in-person notarizations. Maybe you’re tired of sitting behind a screen all day, or maybe the market is shifting. You look at your commission certificate and wonder: “Does having this RON/electronic license actually mean I can do in-person sessions? And do I need a physical stamp, or can I just use the e-seal?”
It’s one of the most common questions in the NY notary community, and the answer might surprise you. The good news? Yes, your RON commission absolutely allows you to perform in-person notarizations.
Let’s dive deep into how your electronic commission works for traditional signing sessions, what equipment you’ll actually need, and how to seamlessly bridge the gap between digital and physical notarizations without losing your mind.
Understanding the NY Notary Commission Structure
To truly grasp how your RON commission works, we first need to understand how New York structures its notary commissions compared to the rest of the country. In most states, “Traditional Notary,” “Notary Signing Agent,” and “Remote Online Notary” are treated as separate titles or certifications you add on. You might hold a standard commission, take a separate NSAPD exam to be a signing agent, and then complete an additional training course to get your RON authorization.
In New York, however, the system is built on a foundation of Executive Law § 135-c. The state distinguishes between a standard Traditional Notary Public and an Electronic Notary Public. Here is the golden rule of NY notary law:
To become an Electronic Notary Public (RON), you must first hold a traditional Notary Public commission.
When you applied to the New York Department of State (DOS) to become a Remote Online Notary, you did not replace your traditional license. Instead, you expanded it. The state views your traditional commission as the foundation. Your electronic authorization is simply a magical overlay that allows you to perform your traditional duties across a digital medium.
That means, when you apply for your electronic/notary RON capability with the New York Department of State (DOS), you are essentially adding a layer of authorization to your existing foundational commission. When your RON commission arrives in the mail, you’ll notice it has a new commission number and a new expiration date (typically aligned with your original term, or a new 4-year term if your old one had expired). This new commission number is what you use on electronic documents, but the physical piece of paper (your commission certificate) grants you the authority to perform both electronic/remote notarizations and traditional, in-person notarizations.
So, when a client asks, “Can you do a physical, wet-ink signing for my mortgage documents?” you can confidently say yes. Your license covers the base requirement.
Does Having an RON Commission Cancel Out In-Person?
A common point of confusion – and a frequent source of anxiety for NY notaries – is the transition from traditional to electronic status. When you register as an electronic notary, your DOS application confirms that you are authorizing your commission to perform electronic acts. Some notaries worry that this overrides or “cancels” their traditional capabilities.
It does not. According to the NY Department of State’s official FAQs: “An electronic notary commission will authorize the license holder to provide both electronic remote online notarial services and traditional notary services.”
Think of your commission as a master key. The physical paper represents your base commission (traditional). The electronic registration is like putting a chip in that key that lets it unlock the digital door. You don’t lose the physical door when you get the chip; you just gain access to a new way of doing business.
The only catch? When you register for RON, the DOS updates your official registry to reflect that you are now an “Electronic Notary Public.” Your commission certificate will list your new electronic commission number. Don’t stress if a client asks to see your original commission certificate. Your current electronic commission certificate is legally sufficient to prove your authority to perform traditional, in-person acts. You can verify this by checking your status on the NY DOS online portal, which will list you as a registered Electronic Notary Public with full traditional capabilities.
The Stamp/Seal Dilemma: New York’s Unique Quirk
Now, let’s address the equipment question that drives so many new NY notaries crazy. If you’ve taken notarization courses in Texas, Florida, or California, you know the drill: you absolutely need a physical, ink-based stamp or embosser that matches your commission exactly. You use it on every document, wet the ink, and press it onto the paper.
In New York, a physical stamp is optional.
Yes, you read that correctly. New York Executive Law § 135-c and the underlying Notary Public License Law state that a notary public is not required to use an official seal or stamp to validate a traditional notarization. As long as you clearly type or print your name, your commission number, and the county in which you are commissioned, your signature is legally binding.
This was intentional when the law was drafted. The state recognized that in the past, notaries were often lawyers, court clerks, or government officials who already had official government stamps on their letterheads. Forcing a specific rubber stamp on everyone was seen as an unnecessary burden.
So, how does this work for in-person sessions if you’re coming from a pure RON background?
When you first got your RON commission, your RON platform (like Notarize, BlueNotary, OneNotary, or DocuSign Notary) generated an electronic seal for your digital documents. For in-person sessions with wet-ink paper, you have two choices:
- The Type-and-Sign Method (100% Legal): You simply type out your name, title, commission number, and commission expiration date on the notarial certificate, then sign it with a pen. You can also print your name clearly at the bottom. This is 100% compliant with NY law.
- The Physical Stamp Method (Highly Recommended): Most NY notaries choose to buy a physical stamp anyway. Why? Because it looks professional, it’s easy to apply quickly, it leaves a permanent record that’s easy to photocopy or scan, and it prevents clients from thinking a typed signature looks like a draft.
If you do get a physical stamp, remember the NY-specific rules: it does not need to be circular (though it can be). New York specifically allows rectangular stamps as well. The stamp must contain:
- The words “Notary Public”
- “State of New York”
- Your name exactly as it appears on your commission
- Your commission number (recommended)
- The expiration date of your commission (recommended)
You will use this exact same physical stamp for traditional in-person sessions. You do not need a separate “RON stamp” and a “traditional stamp.” One physical stamp works for both.
What You Actually Need for In-Person Sessions
If your RON setup lives entirely in the cloud – laptop, webcam, headphones, and an electronic journal – how do you transition to a physical office or mobile in-person signing session? Let’s break down the practical requirements:
1. The Physical Journal (The Big Change)
For a long time, New York notaries were not legally required to keep a journal of their transactions. You could notarize a document and file it away without logging it. That changed. Under updated NY regulations, electronic notaries are required to keep a journal of all notarial acts performed. While the law explicitly mandated journals for RON acts, the Department of State clarified that all NY notaries (both traditional and electronic) should maintain a journal for all services.
It’s best practice (and often required by title companies or lenders) to keep a physical journal for your in-person sessions. Your journal should include:
- Date and time of the notarization
- Type of document
- Type of notarial act (Acknowledgment, Jurat, Oath, etc.)
- Signature of the document signer (a sample signature to prevent fraud)
- Type of identification presented (e.g., NY Driver’s License #, Passport #)
- Fee charged
Keep this book bound (no loose-leaf). You are required to retain these journal entries for at least 10 years.
2. Identity Verification
This is where RON and in-person differ most.
- RON: You rely on the platform’s credential analysis (scanning a driver’s license with AI) and Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA) to prove identity.
- In-Person: You look the signer in the eye. You verify their identity physically. Per NY law, you must verify that the person appearing before you is known to you or has produced satisfactory evidence of identity (usually a government-issued photo ID with a signature, like a Driver’s License, Passport, or State ID). You must ensure the person appears mentally competent and is acting voluntarily.
3. Geography Restrictions
This is a crucial operational difference. According to NY Executive Law § 135-c, an electronic notary must be physically located within New York State at the time they perform a notarization. The signer, however, can be anywhere in the world (as long as the document relates to the US).
For in-person notarizations, the signer must be in the room with you. So if you are working remotely from your home office in Buffalo, you can perform an in-person notarization for a client who drives into your home office. If you are doing mobile notarizations (driving to the client), you must still be within NY borders when you notarize.
Navigating Technology: RON Platforms for In-Person
One of the coolest modern developments in NY notary law is that your RON platform can handle both digital and physical sessions.
When you signed up for a service like Notarize, Onenotary, or eNotaryServices, you paid a subscription fee and linked your commission to their software. You might think that software is locked to digital PDFs, but most modern NY-compliant platforms support In-Person Electronic Notarization (IPEN) or hybrid workflows.
How does this work?
- The Client Brings Paper: The signer comes to your location (or you go to theirs) with a physical paper document.
- You Scan It: You or the signer scans the document using the platform’s mobile app or document scanner. It becomes a digital PDF on your screen.
- You Notarize It Digitally: The platform opens the digital certificate. You verify the signer’s ID physically (showing their license to your webcam or directly), apply your electronic seal, and type your commission details into the e-certificate.
- Print and Sign: The platform generates the electronically notarized PDF. You print it out for the signer to physically sign.
- Affix Your E-Image (Optional but standard): You print the notarial certificate part, sign it with a pen, and either use your physical stamp (if you have one) or type your details. The digital seal image is often printed on the document as a visual reference.
Wait, if you do it this way, the document becomes “electronically notarized” even though the signer’s signature is wet ink on paper. This is perfectly legal in NY under Executive Law § 135-c. It actually makes your hybrid workflow incredibly powerful. You get the security and audit trail of the RON platform, but you still satisfy clients who want to handle physical paper.
If you prefer a fully traditional approach (no scanning, no digital certificates), you simply bring your physical journal, your physical stamp, and a pen. You can even perform your RON KBA credential analysis offline if the platform allows it, but usually, IPEN is a smoother transition for RON-focused notaries.
Pro Tips for the Hybrid Notary
If you are positioning yourself as a full-service NY notary, capable of handling both high-tech digital closings and traditional in-person signings, here are a few pro tips to keep you compliant and profitable:
1. Don’t Ditch Your Physical Setup. Even if 80% of your volume is RON, keep a “traditional notary kit” ready. This includes:
- Your commission certificate
- Your physical stamp (highly recommended)
- At least two blue or black pens (and a backup!)
- A bound physical journal
- A document scanner (like a CamScanner or Fujitsu ScanSnap, or even a reliable smartphone app)
2. Update Your Business Card and Signatures. If you are exclusively an electronic notary now, your email signature and business card should state “Electronic Notary Public, State of New York.” However, for the in-person side, you can just use your name and title. When filling out physical notarial certificates in NY, ensure your typed signature matches the printed name on your commission. Consistency prevents document rejections.
3. Master the NY Notarial Certificates. New York has slightly specific phrasing for notarial certificates.
- For an Acknowledgement, use: “Before me, [Notary Name], a Notary Public of the State of New York, personally appeared [Name of Signer], known to me (or satisfactorily proven) to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument…”
- For a Jurat/Oath, use: “Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me, [Notary Name], a Notary Public…”
When doing in-person wet-ink sessions, you write these out by hand (usually) or type them. When doing RON/IPEN, your platform software automatically generates the exact correct NY language. It’s a great time-saver.
4. The 10-Year Record Rule. Whether it’s a digital PDF log or a physical leather-bound journal, your records must survive for a decade. If you use the IPEN platform method mentioned above, make sure you are storing the signed PDFs securely in the cloud or on a local hard drive. Don’t let the “remote” part of your workflow make you forget that NY retention laws apply just as strictly to your digital files as they do to your physical journal.
5. Know Your County. While NY is a state-level commission, you must indicate the county in which you are commissioned on your documents. If you are traveling to an in-person signing session, ensure your commission is up to date. There is no state-wide travel restriction; you can go from Albany to Buffalo to Long Island and notarize everywhere in NY.
Note about Counties: New York State law grants all commissioned notaries (both traditional and electronic) the authority to perform in-person notarizations anywhere within the state boundaries, regardless of the county listed on your commission certificate. (You can verify these guidelines and download official notary resources directly from the NY DOS Notary Public portal: https://dos.ny.gov/notary-public)
Embrace the Flexibility
New York’s notary law is wonderfully designed to be future-proof. By making your Electronic Notary commission a superset of your traditional commission, the state ensured that notaries wouldn’t have to choose between the old world and the new. They could evolve.
Key Takeaways:
- Does your RON commission let you do in-person sessions? Yes. It grants you full traditional notary capabilities. When you apply for an Electronic/Remote Notary commission in NY (whether you had a traditional one before or not), that single commission grants you the authority to perform traditional in-person, remote online, and electronic notarizations. You only get one commission number, and you use it across the board.
- Do you need anything extra? You need a journal (highly recommended if you didn’t have one), a way to verify physical IDs, and preferably a physical stamp for professionalism, though a typed signature is legally sufficient in NY. Remember, all NY notaries (including RON-only) are required to maintain a notary journal for 10 years, whether the act is done in-person or remotely.
So there you have it – Get your journal, order your stamp if you haven’t already, and start taking those in-person appointments!
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for general educational purposes to assist New York notaries with their commission capabilities and does not constitute legal advice. While we strive for accuracy, New York State laws, fees, and regulations may change over time, so please verify all details with the NY Department of State. The author assumes no liability for any errors, omissions, or results arising from the use of this content. Consult a qualified attorney for specific legal guidance before performing official notarial acts.