How to Use Remote Notary Services in Australia

A remote online notary is an American office, and Australia has no equivalent commission. Here, a notary may sometimes witness a signature or take an oath by video, where their state or territory's witnessing rules allow it for that document. The certificate should say how it was done, and the receiving authority decides whether to accept it.

Key takeaways

• Remote online notarisation (RON) is a US system with its own commissions and platforms. It does not carry over to Australia.
• Australian remote witnessing rules are state and territory rules, they differ by document, and several have changed since 2020.
• A remote act usually still involves paper: the signed page is sent to the notary, who completes the certificate.
• An honest certificate records that the act was done by audiovisual link. The receiving authority will read that.
• Certified copies cannot be done remotely at all, because the notary must sight the original.

What "remote online notary" means

If you searched for a remote online notary, most results describe the United States. There, many states commission notaries specifically to perform electronic notarisations over video, under laws written for that purpose, and platforms connect signers with those commissioned notaries. A US notary is typically a lay witness holding a state commission, not a lawyer.

Australia works differently. An Australian notary public is usually an experienced solicitor, appointed under state or territory arrangements: in most by the Supreme Court, and in Queensland through the Court of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury. There is no separate "remote" commission. Whether an Australian notary can act by video depends on the general witnessing rules in the state or territory where they practise, and on the kind of document. See Australian and US notaries compared.

This page covers that legal and practical side of remote acts. If you are simply looking for the ways to get a document handled from home, including when you need no notary at all, see notarising documents online.

Where the rules come from in Australia

During the pandemic, most states and territories made some arrangement for documents to be signed or witnessed by audiovisual link. Some of those arrangements were temporary and lapsed. Others were made permanent, sometimes in a narrower form, and the rules have been amended since. The result is a patchwork:

• the rules differ between states and territories;
• within one state, they differ by kind of document, so affidavits, statutory declarations, deeds, powers of attorney and wills can each have their own rule;
• the rules usually describe witnessing in general, and a notary relying on them for an act meant for overseas use still has to satisfy the foreign receiver;
• Commonwealth documents, such as Commonwealth statutory declarations, follow Commonwealth rules, which now allow video witnessing and a digital myGov option.

We do not publish a state-by-state table. Any such table goes stale, and the detail needs checking against the current law in the relevant state. Ask the notary which rules they are relying on for your document. Our notary rules by state article describes the shape of the differences.

How a remote notarial act usually works

Where remote witnessing is allowed, the schemes tend to share a shape, even though the detail differs. A typical sequence:

1. Before the call, you send the notary a scan of the document, your ID and the receiving authority's instructions, and the notary decides whether they will act remotely for this document at all.
2. On the call, the notary checks your identity against the ID, asks questions to satisfy themselves that you understand the document and are signing freely, and watches you sign, in real time, with the signature visible on camera.
3. After signing, you send the signed pages to the notary, often a scan straight away and the original by post.
4. The notary completes the certificate on the signed document, usually stating that the act was witnessed by audiovisual link, and records it in their notarial register.
5. Legalisation follows if the receiver needs it: DFAT for an apostille or authentication, then any embassy step.

Some schemes let the witness sign a counterpart or a copy rather than the original page. Whether that is allowed, and what the endorsement must say, depends on the scheme, which is another reason to ask the notary rather than rely on a general description.

What the notary still has to be satisfied of

Video changes the room, not the duties. A notary must be satisfied of your identity, your capacity to understand the document, and that you are signing freely, without pressure. On video, each of those is harder to judge: the notary cannot see who else is in the room, cannot handle your ID, and may miss signs of confusion. That is why a notary may:

• ask you to pan the camera around the room, or ask anyone else present to leave;
• ask for the ID to be held close to the camera, front and back, and compare it with a copy sent beforehand;
• ask questions about the document in your own words;
• decline to act remotely for a document with serious consequences, such as a power of attorney over property, and ask you to attend in person.

A notary may decline any act where identity, understanding or free consent is unclear. Our article on capacity and duress checks explains what they look for.

Which acts can be done remotely

Act	Remotely?	The limiting factor
Witnessing a signature	Sometimes	The notary's state rules for that document, and the receiver.
Oath, affirmation or affidavit	Sometimes	The same, and some courts and registries insist on attendance.
Certifying a copy	No	The notary must sight the original; a scan or webcam image is not it.
Company documents	Sometimes	The notary must also verify the company and the signer's authority, and many foreign registries want wet ink.
Wills and property transfers	Rarely	They have their own witnessing rules. See a solicitor about validity.

The certificate, DFAT and the receiving authority

A notarial certificate describes what the notary did. If the act was done by audiovisual link, an honest certificate says so, and a foreign ministry or registry reading it will see that. Some receivers accept it. Many do not, particularly those that expect a wet-ink signature made in the notary's presence and an embossed seal. That is why the most important question is asked before the call: will the receiving authority accept a notarial act done by video? Get the answer in writing if you can.

If the document needs an apostille or authentication, a second question follows. Only DFAT issues these in Australia, by checking the notary's signature and seal against its records. DFAT's published guidance on documents it can legalise accepts only a limited range of official Australian documents electronically, assessed on lodgement, and says scans are never electronic documents. A paper certificate with the notary's seal is the form DFAT routinely handles; ask before relying on a purely digital one. DFAT also points out that many overseas authorities do not ask for legalised documents at all, so check what the receiver needs before paying for that step.

Whether the destination needs an apostille or embassy legalisation depends on its membership of the Hague Apostille Convention. Check the HCCH status table on the day, because membership changes. Our apostille and authentication page covers the DFAT step.

When the signer is overseas

Remote acts are often sought by Australians living abroad who need an Australian document signed. That raises a further question: when the notary is in one place and the signer in another country, whose rules govern the act? The notary's own rules certainly apply to what they may do. Whether the signer's country has anything to say, and whether the receiver accepts the result, needs checking. Some notaries will not act for a signer outside Australia.

There are often simpler routes. An Australian embassy or consulate may provide notarial services, and a local notary in the signer's country can witness the signature, with that country's authentication or apostille. If the document is for use in Australia, ask the Australian recipient which it prefers. See Australian embassy notarial services and using an Australian notary from overseas.

Setting up the call

• A quiet, private room, with no one off camera prompting you. The notary is assessing free consent.
• Current photo ID, usually a passport, and a copy sent beforehand if asked.
• The document, unsigned, with every page, printed if the notary wants wet ink.
• A stable connection and a camera that can show both your face and the page as you sign. A frozen call at the moment of signing breaks the observation.
• An interpreter, arranged in advance, if you are not comfortable in English. The notary must be sure you understand what you sign.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A retired engineer in Darwin needs to swear an affidavit for a court in Europe. He asks the court first, which replies that it accepts a notarised affidavit sworn by video, provided the certificate states the method and carries a wet-ink signature and seal, apostilled. The notary confirms their rules allow a video oath for this kind of affidavit. He swears it on camera, posts the signed original, and the notary completes the certificate, recording the audiovisual link, before it goes to DFAT. He saved the trip; he did not skip any step.

In short

"Remote online notary" is an American term. In Australia, a notary may sometimes act by video under their state or territory's witnessing rules, for some documents, and the certificate should say so. Certified copies still need the original. The receiving authority decides whether a remote act is acceptable, and DFAT is most at home with a paper certificate and seal. Ask the receiver first, then the notary. Our document notarisation page explains the in-person route.

People also search for

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• Can a copy be certified online?
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