Comments on: Can a U.S. notary public practice in a foreign country?

Question: Can a U.S. notary public practice in a foreign country?

KimikoPi — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:41:28 -0800

Does any state in the United States allow its notaries public to practice abroad in a foreign country?

I'd particularly like to know if a notary public license from any state will allow one to notarize American documents in the UK. Thanks!

By: k5.user

k5.user — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:44:27 -0800

Is there a more specific case you are trying to answer in this question ?

ie I am in the UK and need to have some document notarized, what would be the best way to do this ?

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:48:10 -0800

If you're looking for a US notary in the UK...

By: inturnaround

inturnaround — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:51:07 -0800

According to the US State Department...No.

CAN A NOTARY PUBLIC FROM THE UNITED STATES PERFORM THAT FUNCTION ABROAD? No. The commission of a notary public is limited to the jurisdiction within the particular state in the U.S. for which the commission was issued. For additional information about notaries in the United States contact the National Notary Association, a Non-Profit Educational Organization, 8236 Remmet Avenue, P.O. Box 7184, Canoga Park, CA 91304-7184, tel: 818-713-4000.

By: dfriedman

dfriedman — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:59:09 -0800

It's hard to know what the OP is trying to have answered here, but notary services for US citizens living abroad are generally handled by the embassy or consulate. To wit, see this link.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:01:32 -0800

It's hard to know what the OP is trying to have answered here...

The question is in crystal clear plain English and the answer is unambiguously "no".

By: valkyryn

valkyryn — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:18:37 -0800

Uh, no. Notaries public are functions of governments sovereign over their territories. A US state can't make its license effective in other states in the US, let alone outside the country.

Furthermore, "notary" is a term with several different meanings. In the US, it means "someone who witnesses the signing of official documents and certifies their authenticity." In the UK and many Latin American countries, it actually refers to a particular kind of attorney.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:01:58 -0800

An apostille might serve the purpose here (wiki)

By: Tanizaki

Tanizaki — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:25:42 -0800

I do not think of notaries public as "practicing", but no, a U.S. notary public receives his commission from his state and is limited to officiating within that state's jurisdictional boundaries. For example, a California notary public can only act as a notary in California. Not in Nevada, not in France.

I do not know what sort of notarial act the OP needs. It may be more appropriate for a UK notary or notarial services at the local US Embassy, depending on what the document is, where it will be produced, and what it is for.

The notaries of the civil law jurisdictions are an entirely different animal from the notaries of the Anglo-American common law jurisdictions. A very small and specialized class of lawyer (for example, just over 500 in all of Japan), they generally have territorial exclusivity and are required for certain acts. Professor Malavet's law journal article remains the go-to descriptive text on the topic.

An apostille is for a very particular class of documents and likely would not be appropriate in this case because a UK apostille would only be for UK public documents. The OP needs some sort of notarial services for American documents.

ObDisclosure: I spent a law school summer working for my state in the department responsible for compliance with the Hague Convention on Legalization of Foreign Public Documents. Document authentication is an academic subset I continue to maintain. (very handy for e-discovery issues)

By: yclipse

yclipse — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:40:39 -0800

By: yclipse

yclipse — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:41:43 -0800

(Substitute France for Colorado, please)

By: Tanizaki

Tanizaki — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:07:07 -0800

I think the OP has the question backward. A notary commissioned in Utah is authorized to perform notary functions in that state. If he wants to go to Colorado and do the same thing, he can do so if he qualifies under Colorado's criteria, whatever they may be. Utah is not going to find out and is not going to object if it somehow comes to its attention. There is no obligation of exclusivity.

Please forgive me, but I do not think this is quite accurate.

Notaries public are appointed or commissions by their state's executive branch and are generally deemed to be public officers of their respective states. Can the state of Utah appoint a public official to perform his official duties in Colorado? Does the Utah state police patrol in Colorado? Maybe you chose those two specific states for a reason, but I am not aware of any state having such a reciprocity agreement with any other state. The state of Utah would give effect to a notarial act performed in Colorado by a Colorado notary, but that is not the same thing. (that is a full faith and credit clause issue)

I agree that in your scenario, Utah is not going to object if a Utah notary performs a notarial act in Colorado. However, the act itself would be a void notarial act, so if the transaction in question required notarization, there has been none. Every notarial certificate I have seen begins with "State of X, County of Y". If a Utah notary performs some notarial duty in Colorado (or France), the certificate is going to be invalid on its face when it begins "Department of Paris, Region of Île-de-France". Utah's notary statute provides, "A person commissioned as a notary by the lieutenant governor may perform notarial acts in any part of this state" (and every American notary statute I have heard of provides substantially identically). Try to use an affidavit signed in Colorado before a Utah notary public and see what happens.

By: gjc

gjc — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:14:27 -0800

This is the scenario I think you are asking:

A citizen of Colorado (or whatever state) needs a document notarized for some business or legal transaction that will occur in Colorado. However, that person is in the UK at the moment. Can a notary commissioned by Colorado meet that person in the UK so that he or she can sign the document?

That would depend on the state's law, but I doubt it. The notary's seal usually says something to the effect of "... in the County of Cook, State of Illinois".

By: valkyryn

valkyryn — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:30:43 -0800

Utah is not going to object if a Utah notary performs a notarial act in Colorado

Actually, they might. They'd be acting in violation of the terms of their license and calling the validity of Utah notarial acts into question. An attorney licensed in state A but fined by state B for practicing law without a license may well find himself subject to disciplinary action in state A.

I would imagine that notaries public would be similar. There isn't an ethics committee, but if the Secretary of State of a given state were to learn that a notary was performing notarial acts outside his jurisdictional bounds, he'd be annoyed.

By: Gringos Without Borders

Gringos Without Borders — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:38:47 -0800

A consular officer at any US embassy or consulate can notarize documents for you when you're abroad.

By: Tanizaki

Tanizaki — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:07:20 -0800

Actually, they might. They'd be acting in violation of the terms of their license and calling the validity of Utah notarial acts into question. An attorney licensed in state A but fined by state B for practicing law without a license may well find himself subject to disciplinary action in state A.

I would imagine that notaries public would be similar. There isn't an ethics committee, but if the Secretary of State of a given state were to learn that a notary was performing notarial acts outside his jurisdictional bounds, he'd be annoyed.

In my experience, discipline rises with the amount of regulation. For a one-time occurrence as described in the hypothetical, I would image that falls into the category of "not worth the paperwork". Is some sort of discipline possible? Yes, but I think not very likely. I should have qualified my statement with "probably" rather than made it categorical.

In any event, I'd like more information from the OP so we could better answer the question, but I imagine what they need are the notarial services offered by the local embassy/consulate.