The Texas Secretary of State (“SOS”) has recently updated both its requirements and procedures for an “active” commissioned traditional Texas notary to apply for and obtain an online notary commission and to renew an online notary commission. In Texas an online commission expires when a notary’s traditional commission expires. Renewing a traditional notary commission does not automatically renew the online commission. The Texas online notary commission will need to be renewed separately. The following steps may be followed by an “active” commissioned traditional Texas notary to obtain or renew an online notary commission in Texas, and to contract with a remote online notary services provider.
Step 1. Login to your personal SOS portal or create an account (we strongly recommend you use a personal email address like gmail, yahoo, etc…) SOS Portal: https://webservices.sos.state.tx.us/termsandconditions/tac.html You should link your notary commission if you haven’t already under the “Notary” section.
Step 2. If you are applying to become and online notary or renewing your online notary commission you will need to take the online notary education course available under the new SOS Notary Portal.
Step 3. After you complete the education course you should check to see if you can apply to start the online notary application. You will need an x.509 signing certificate (sometimes called a tamper-evident certificate) in order to apply for you online notary commission in Texas. An example of a Texas online notary compliant x.509 signing certificate for purchase can be found here: https://notarystore.io/products/notary-x-509-signing-certificate-digital-file Remember your your signing certificate has its own expiration date independent of your commission expiration date. The expiration date of your signing certificate is NOT the expiration of your online notary commission. Once you have your x.509 certificate you can complete your application – and have a credit card handy to pay the application fee.
Step 4. To do online notarization in-house your company will need to engage a remote online notary “RON” service provider that provides a web-based software platform that allows your employee-notaries to access and perform online notarizations. Also, each of your online notary employees will need their own x.509 signing certificate discussed above. NOTARY.IO (https://notary.io/), is an example of an RON service provider with a simple online notary platform designed for law firms and business of all types – it is transactional SaaS platform allowing free business account creation, does not charge monthly or annual subscription fees and only charges per use for the online notarizations performed by an account holder.