Can an Online Notarization Be Apostilled in Massachusetts? What Is Accepted in 2026

A law on the books, a program not yet running

Massachusetts authorized remote online notarization in 2023. The statute lets a commissioned notary perform a notarial act for a signer who appears by audio-video connection, after the notary completes state training, registers with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and uses an approved platform. The Secretary’s office has said plainly on its own commissions page that the training and the notification form are not yet available and that notaries should not use remote platforms until they are. The office sought information from technology vendors in 2024 and is still writing regulations.

The practical result in September 2026: a Massachusetts notary who notarizes you over video is acting outside the program, and the Commissions Section will not apostille a certificate that says the signer appeared remotely. A Massachusetts notary can still notarize in person anywhere in the Commonwealth, and that is the notarization the state apostilles every day.

Massachusetts did allow a temporary form of video notarization during the pandemic emergency. That authority ended in 2023 and was replaced by the permanent statute that is still waiting on regulations. Documents notarized under the emergency rules were valid at the time. New ones cannot be created under it.

The Commonwealth apostilles the notary on file. A remote notarization has no place in that file until the program opens.

A remote notarization from Florida, Texas or Virginia is real. It is also not a Massachusetts document.

Most of the national online notary platforms use notaries commissioned in states with mature remote programs. When you use one, your document is notarized under that state’s law by that state’s notary, and only that state’s Secretary of State can apostille it. Sending it to One Ashburton Place returns it unprocessed, because the Commonwealth has no file for a Florida notary.

That route works when two things are true. The other state must apostille remotely notarized documents, and most that permit RON do, sometimes with a printed paper copy certified by the notary. And the destination country must accept a remotely notarized private document, which is the larger question.

Where it fails

Spain’s consulates and registries want wet ink notarization for powers of attorney and affidavits. Italian comuni and notai expect the same for procure. Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and most of Latin America follow the civil law view that a notary must be physically present. Some countries have started accepting electronic apostilles on public records while still refusing remote notarizations on private ones, which confuses people who assume the two go together. Our guide to translation and apostille sequencing explains how these countries read a file.

Where it works

The United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and many corporate registries accept remotely notarized documents with an apostille from the notary’s state, especially for company resolutions, certified copies and declarations. Even there, the receiving party decides, and a bank compliance desk can refuse what a registry accepts.

What the Massachusetts program will require when it opens

The 2023 statute sets the shape of the program even though the office has not switched it on. A notary who wants to notarize remotely will have to complete a state approved course, notify the Secretary of the Commonwealth before performing the first remote act, use a platform the Secretary has approved, verify the signer’s identity through credential analysis and identity proofing rather than personal knowledge alone, keep an audio-video recording of every session for a set number of years, and record each act in an electronic journal. The signer will have to be located in Massachusetts, or outside it under conditions the regulations will spell out, and the notarial certificate will have to state that the act was performed by remote communication. The document produced will be electronic, with a paper copy certified by the notary available for offices that want paper.

Two consequences follow for apostilles. First, the Commissions Section will need a way to verify the electronic seal and the remote certificate against its file, which is part of what the regulations must build before the program opens. Second, even after it opens, the certificate’s own words will tell every foreign office that the signer was not physically present, and the countries listed above will refuse it for the same documents they refuse today. The program will make remote notarization legal in Massachusetts. It will not make Spain accept it.

What to do while you wait

Sign in person. Our office in Tewksbury handles walk-ins during business hours, and a mobile notary covers eastern Massachusetts for anyone who cannot travel. When the program opens we will update this guide with the date, the platform list and which foreign offices have said they accept the result.

The question to ask before you pay for a video session

Ask the receiving office: “Do you accept a document notarized by remote online notarization with an apostille from the notary’s state?” If the answer is anything other than yes in writing, sign in person.

What notarization plus apostille costs

The Commonwealth charges $6 per apostille. Our Massachusetts service starts at $149.95 per document and includes in person notarization at our office, the review of the certificate against the destination’s rules, the trip to One Ashburton Place, courier and tracking. Mobile notary travel, rush handling and translations are quoted separately. Every quote is itemized before you pay. Fingerprints for the FBI check are taken at our sister office, Fingerprint Boston, in the same building.

See the full pricing page and the cost guide.