Are you getting ready to go to your first Notary appointment and you are trying to make sure you have everything prepped and ready? One of the very most important things you must make sure you bring is not only the document (s) and yourself, but also a valid form of Identification that was issued by your local government. Every state has different rules about what forms of identification are acceptable when verifying someone is who they say they are - so always refer back to your states Notary Law about that, but if your state does not have any rules a good rule to go by is making sure you verify using something that was state or federally issued.
What are good documents to use?
These are some of the more common forms of ID that you can use though you should remember to check your state laws to make sure that the form you choose to use is acceptable if it is not a State Issued ID card. The National Notary Association has a great source you can use to Check your state laws and even access those of other states, quickly and easily.
Some good documents to use are as follows:
State issued Driver License
State issued Identification Card
U.S Military Identification Card
U.S Passport
Permanent Resident Card, also called "Green Card"
Foreign Passport (Check your state laws)
Veteran Health ID Card (Check your State Laws)
Inmate Identification Card (Check your State Laws)
Keep in mind that only a few states are allowing the use of Digital Identification Cards, so if somebody presents you with a Digital ID be sure to check your State Law before accepting it.
What forms of ID are not acceptable to use?
We talked about forms of ID that were a good choice to use so let's talk about a few forms of ID that would be considered unacceptable for notarization. You always want to make sure you use a form that is acceptable to take a look at this list and also refer to your states law to make sure there are not others that you cannot use. Most of these listed do not have a picture on them nor were they issued by the government which makes them unacceptable for Notaries to use during appointments.
Social Security Card
School Issued Identification Card
Birth Certificate
Library Card
Credit Card
If you are the Notary, remember to double check security features on all Identification Cards you accept, and even Passports if you are presented one, to make sure you are not being handed something fake. It has become easier than ever to get hands on high quality fake IDs so be sure to familiarize yourself with what to look out for when trying to spot fake IDs. I will cover that more in depth in a future blog post.
As stated before, always make sure you check your state laws for what may or may not be acceptable for identification when getting a Notarization done, if you do not have a valid state issued Driver License or Identification Card. State laws are always changing so what might be allowed today may not be allowed tomorrow, or what is not allowed right now in your state might be allowed sometime soon. Make sure the utilize the link above if you want to stay up to date on your Notary laws for your state.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post.
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