Official terms of Copy Certification

From VA Notary Handbook "Copy certification" means a notarial act in which a notary (i) is presented with a document that is not a public record; (ii) copies or supervises the copying of the document using a photographic or electronic copying process; (iii) compares the document to the copy; and (iv) determines that the copy is accurate and complete. I interpret this to mean that the notary supervises the copying or does the copying I will not notarize exact copy of documents made by client when I am not present. Furthermore, Va notaries can not make copy certification of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates or documents issued by courts since these all have keeper of record issues.

Satisfactory Evidence of Identity in VA

From the Virginia Notary Handbook:
"Satisfactory evidence of identity" means identification of an individual based on (i) examination of one or more of the following documents bearing a photographic image of the individual's face and signature: a United States Passport, a certificate of United States citizenship, a certificate of naturalization, an unexpired foreign passport, an alien registration card with photograph, a state issued driver's license or a state issued identification card or a United States military card or (ii) the oath or affirmation of one credible witness unaffected by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the individual or of two credible witnesses unaffected by the document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to the notary documentary identification as described in subdivision (i).

VA Standards for Copy Certification

This is from the Va Notary Handbook:
"Copy certification" means a notarial act in which a notary (i) is presented with a document that is not a public record; (ii) copies or supervises the copying of the document using a photographic or electronic copying process; (iii) compares the document to the copy; and (iv) determines that the copy is accurate and complete.
Va notaries can not do the following: The VA Notary Handbook states:
"Virginia notaries are not authorized to certify true copies of birth, death, or marriage certificates. Only the Division of Vital Records/Statistics may perform such a certification."
Do not expect me to certify an exact copy that I did not make or was not supervising the copying!!!!!!Do not call me if you are not prepared to follow the dictates set forth by the VA Notary Hand book!!!!!!!!!