The Virginia Notary Myth: Why International Signers Don't Need to Leave Florida

You don't need a Virginia notary for international signings. Florida's RON law and biometric verification already cover it.

If you've worked on a cross-border deal, maybe a foreign national buying Florida real estate, an overseas executive signing a corporate resolution, or an expatriate client executing a power of attorney, you've probably heard some version of this rule: "You have to use a Virginia notary if the signer is outside the U.S."

It's repeated so often in closing rooms and law firm hallways that it's treated as settled law. It isn't. It's a holdover from an earlier stage of remote online notarization (RON), and continuing to route every international signer to Virginia can cost your clients time and flexibility they don't need to give up.

Here's where the myth came from, what Florida's statute actually says and how identity verification, including biometrics, closes the gap that used to send everyone to Virginia.

 Where the Myth Came From

 

Virginia was the first state to authorize RON, back in 2012. For years it was one of the only reliable options for signers located outside the United States and its platforms built a reputation as the default solution for foreign nationals and expatriate clients.

The real driver wasn't that Virginia law uniquely permitted international signers. It was identity verification technology. Most states' RON identity checks lean on knowledge-based authentication (KBA), a quiz built from U.S. credit and public records. That works fine for someone with a U.S. financial footprint. It doesn't work for a signer who has never had a U.S. address, credit file or utility bill, which describes most people physically located abroad.

Virginia was early to build statutory alternatives to KBA. That made Virginia notaries genuinely more useful for international signers for a stretch of time and the industry shorthand of "send it to a Virginia notary" stuck around long after the underlying limitation stopped being Virginia-specific.

What do the Florida statutes say?

Florida's RON law doesn't restrict where a signer can be located. Under Florida Statute 117.265, an online notarization performed by a Florida-commissioned online notary public is valid regardless of whether the principal or any witnesses are physically located in Florida at the time of the notarization. Florida notaries notarize for signers located anywhere in the United States and, under the statute's provisions, for signers abroad as well.

The one non-negotiable is the notary's own location. The notary must be physically present in Florida during the session. Where the signer is sitting, whether that's Tampa or Toronto, doesn't change the legal validity of the notarization under Florida law.

On identity verification, Florida Statute 117.201(7) defines "identity proofing" as a process in which a third party affirms an individual's identity using public or proprietary data sources, and the definition names two forms this can take: knowledge-based authentication or biometric verification. Florida law was written with biometric verification in view from the start, not as an afterthought bolted on to solve a KBA problem.

This is the piece that gets left out of the Virginia narrative. The identity proofing concept in Florida's statute was never limited to a records-based quiz. Biometric verification has been part of the definition since the law was written.

How We Use Biometrics for International Signers

KBA vs. biometric verification: how Florida notaries confirm identity for signers with or without a U.S. records history.

When a signer can't complete a KBA quiz because there's no U.S. credit history to build one from, our RON platform, BlueNotary, offers biometric verification as the alternative path, built around the identity proofing concept defined under Florida Statute 117.201(7). The signer presents a government-issued ID such as a driver's license, state ID or passport; our platform runs credential analysis on it and a facial scan captured from several angles is compared against the ID photo. No U.S. Social Security number required. No stalled session because a foreign signer can't answer a question about a mortgage they never had.

That's the practical answer to the Virginia myth. Florida's identity proofing framework was built with signers like this in mind, and biometric verification through BlueNotary is a process we build into every international signing.

What This Means in Practice

For real estate professionals: a foreign national buyer or seller doesn't need to be routed out of state for their notarization to hold up. What matters is whether your notary and platform can complete identity verification for a signer without U.S. records. Ask directly which method they'll use before the session, not after it fails.

For attorneys: if you've been building conflicts checks, retainer language or closing checklists around "use Virginia for foreign signers," it's worth revisiting that assumption. The controlling question isn't which state's notary performs the act. It's whether the receiving institution, a lender, a foreign government or a title underwriter, has its own acceptance requirements layered on top of state notary law. Those requirements can exist regardless of which state performs the notarization and they're the thing actually worth confirming case by case.

For both: if the document is heading to a foreign government, bank or court, notarization alone often isn't the finish line. Many receiving countries require an apostille or additional authentication under the Hague Convention before the document will be accepted. That's a separate step from the notarization itself and one worth planning for regardless of which state's notary handled the signing. *We can as well.

The Bottom Line

The "you need a Virginia notary" rule was a reasonable workaround for a real technology gap over a decade ago. It was never a legal requirement, and Florida Statute 117.201(7) has included biometric verification within its definition of identity proofing since the law was written. Treating the Virginia rule as settled law can mean unnecessary friction for clients who could complete their notarization the same day, in Florida, with a notary who already understands their transaction.

If your practice regularly involves international signers, foreign real estate buyers, overseas corporate officers, or expatriate estate planning clients, it's worth having a Florida notary on hand who confirms, before the session, exactly how identity will be verified for someone without a U.S. records history. That's the variable that matters. The state on the notary's commission isn't.

Legendary Notaries is a Florida-licensed notary team serving individuals, businesses, real estate professionals, and legal entities across the state and nationwide. Whether you need remote online notarization for an international signer or in-person service for a local closing, we handle the identity verification and compliance work so your transaction moves forward without delay. This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Notary and RON laws vary by state and change frequently. Confirm current requirements with your notary provider or an attorney before relying on any notarization for a specific transaction.