I’m a Notary and Signing Agent in NJ. I’m in Central Jersey so NYC and PA aren’t that far, especially when you see some of the fees those areas are paying.
I’ve reached out to NY State about becoming a notary in NY, after checking their website and it was vague. Their response just said to see there website so not a lot of help there. It says “Be a resident of New York State or have an office or place of business in New York State.” I have a NJ Notary business registered with NJ and a Fed EIN. And while I’m willing to register my business in NYS I’m not going to open a physical office there. I work out of my home in NJ so I’m not going to get a physical rental space in NY.
Does anyone know if I need an actual office space in NY to become a notary there? If I have to have a physical address could I use a Virtual Office? I know there are places where you can “rent” office space. For a monthly fee you get an address and the use of a office space or conference room when needed.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
That might be a loophole…or questionable, maybe even illegal. It wouldn’t hurt to write and get a definitive answer–you’ve nothing to lose.
Exactly, Arichter! This is how some of these companies pull it off. They’ll rent (for example) a UPS Store mailbox and use that as their “business address”. Depending on the purpose for that rental, it could be considered illegal – IMO.
Get a Mail Box Etc address which has a street address with a box number.
It’s doubtful that it’s illegal. When my former company closed the physical office in Tennessee, we opened a Mailbox etc. address to maintain a Tennessee address.
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You should be able to just register in that state as a foreign entity, if you don’t have a physical location, then you would have to appoint/hire someone in that state as your registered agent. I am a GA Notary/Loan Signing Agent, and my company is based out of GA, and I also do business in TN, so I had register as a foreign entity and since I did not have an office in TN, I had to appoint someone as my registered agent in TN.
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I am interested in doing this as well. Did you do this process by yourself, or did you get assistance? Also is it okay to ask if you knew someone in TN or did you hire someone (how did you hire them)?
I actually did all the research and then proceeded to do all of this by myself and the majority of what I had to do was through the Secretary of State in both states, but I also dealt with IRS, county, etc. I have friends in Tennessee, and one happens to be a very good friend of mine who has a special needs son and she is my appointed Registered Agent in TN, I am my own Registered Agent in GA.
Feel free to email me anytime.
Thank you so much! I appreciate this.
The answers I’ve gotten back by email are just as vague as their websites. PA responded with basically a screen shot from their website. “Reside, be employed or practice in Pennsylvania.” Well I’m trying to practice in PA! LOL
I’ll have to try calling to see if I can get better answers. I don’t want to go through the trouble of registering if I can’t do it. That’s a lot of time wasted, especially if I have to register for taxes and all that. Trying to undo that if I can’t get my notary in those states is not worth the hassle.
Thanks for all the responses!!!
I am close to the state of Virginia and get a lot of request for the southern most part of VA. I once had a license through them but let it expire when we moved to NC. I contacted them recently to see if I could get the VA license and was told I needed to have a permanent VA address in order to do so.
Post offices (at least in CA) allow use of their street address if the p.o. box holder chooses. They allowed this about 15 or 20 years ago to compete the UPS Store and other mailbox stores. I always use my post office’s street address rather than just P.O. Box XXX. It’s cheaper than the mailbox stores…. (cheapER but not cheap anymore, lol).
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This is a future goal of mine when I decide to become a snowbird 
I live in South Dakota close to Wyoming and Nebraska, closer to WY than NE. I emailed both SoS notary divisions explaining I’m a LSA that get’s requests for their state all the time, find it to be an underserved area and would like to fill the gap. WY said (paraphrased) ‘you’re offering a service in WY, so you would be working in WY. Go ahead and apply.’ NE said (paraphrased) ‘NOPE’!’ I’m fine with NE’s decision because I already drove 43,000 miles this year so far, most of which was for signings. I suggest emailing the SoS of the states you are interested in venturing into and see if they have a similar view as WY.
I had a notary license in VA but let it expire when we moved to NC. We are close to the VA/NC state line and I’m asked to go into VA quite a bit. My point and advice, verify with the state the requirements for that license. VA told me I had to have a physical address in their state and not just a post office box. Applying under the pretense of living there and providing a PO Box would be against the law. Maybe other states are more lenient but check with that state before doing anything.
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