What Forms of ID Can a Texas Notary Accept?

A Texas notary can accept any current identification card or document issued by a U.S. federal or state government agency that shows your photo, a physical description, and your signature. In practice, that usually means a state driver’s license or ID card, a U.S. passport or passport card, or a U.S. military ID. If you don’t have anything that fits, Texas law lets a credible witness vouch for you, and a few narrow situations allow other documents. These are the forms of ID a Texas notary can accept, and the rules below spell out exactly what counts.

What the ID Itself Has to Show

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 121.005 sets the baseline. A notary cannot take an acknowledgment unless they personally know the signer or have “satisfactory evidence” of the signer’s identity, which the statute defines as a current ID card or document issued by a federal or state government agency.¹

The document has to carry all three of these elements:

A photograph of your face.
A physical description, such as height, weight, or eye color, that the notary can match against the person standing in front of them.
Your signature, so the notary can compare it to the one you place on the document.

It also has to be current. An expired ID fails this test no matter how recently it lapsed; there’s no grace period under Texas law.² If your driver’s license expired last month, renew it or bring something else before your appointment.

IDs That Work

These are the documents that satisfy every requirement cleanly:

A driver’s license or state ID card from any U.S. state, not just Texas.
A U.S. passport or U.S. passport card.
A U.S. military identification card.
A U.S. permanent resident card (green card), which is issued by a federal agency and includes the required photo, description, and signature.

Any one of these, if current, will get you through a standard notarization.²

IDs That Don’t Work

A lot of documents prove who you are in daily life but miss one of the required elements. The usual rejections:

Social Security cards. No photo and no physical description.
Birth certificates. No photo, no signature, not an ID card.
Credit or debit cards. Not government-issued.
Work badges and school IDs. Issued by private employers or institutions, not a government.
Medicare or Medicaid cards. No photo or physical description.
Membership cards of any kind. Not government-issued.

If the document is missing a photo, a physical description, a signature, or a government issuer, it fails. Having two of the three isn’t enough.

Foreign Passports

Because the statute requires a document issued by a U.S. federal or state agency, a foreign passport does not qualify for most notarizations. The one exception is in Texas Administrative Code 1 TAC 87.1, which lets a notary accept a foreign passport on deeds and other instruments related to residential real estate transactions. Outside that narrow category, bring something else.

If You Don’t Have Any Qualifying ID

Texas gives you two paths when you can’t produce an acceptable document.

The first is personal knowledge. A notary who already knows you from a prior relationship can proceed without any ID at all; the record book just has to note that identity was established through personal knowledge.¹³ This is realistic in a small town or a workplace, less so if you’re walking into a bank where no one knows you.

The second is a credible witness: someone who personally knows you and will swear to your identity under oath.¹ How many witnesses you need depends on whether the notary knows them:

One witness is enough if the notary personally knows that witness.
Two witnesses are required if the notary doesn’t know either of them, and each witness must present their own valid government-issued ID.

The point is an unbroken chain of personal knowledge from you to the witness to the notary.⁴ A credible witness can’t have any financial or beneficial interest in the document you’re signing. Call the notary before you show up. Not every notary is set up to run the witness process, and some will turn it down.

When the Name on Your ID Doesn’t Match the Document

Name mismatches trip up a lot of signers. Maybe your driver’s license reads “Patricia J. Carson” and the document reads “Patti Carson,” or you’ve recently married and your ID still carries your old name.

If the name on the document is a recognizable variation of what’s on your ID, the notary can usually proceed. “Patricia” and “Patti” clearly refer to the same person. But if your ID says “John A. Smith” and the document reads “John Alan Smith,” the notary has no way to confirm what the “A” stands for, and that gap is a problem.

Your options:

Bring a second ID that matches the document’s name exactly. A passport alongside a driver’s license often clears this up.
Use a credible witness who can identify you under the name on the document.
Sign using “also known as.” You write both names linked by AKA, such as “Patricia J. Carson AKA Patti Carson,” and the notary only notarizes the name that appears on your ID. Check first with whoever will receive the document; not every agency accepts AKA signatures.

Recordable deeds and other instruments filed with county offices tend to apply stricter name-matching than private contracts. For anything touching real property, sort the name issue out before the appointment rather than relying on the notary to work around it.

Remote Online Notarization

Texas also allows notarization over a live video call, but the identity check is more involved than an in-person visit. Unless the online notary personally knows you, the process requires two-way audio and video plus credential analysis and identity proofing performed by a third-party provider.⁵

Credential analysis is a technology check on your government-issued ID. You hold it up to the camera and the system examines its security features to confirm it isn’t fraudulent. Identity proofing uses knowledge-based authentication: the system pulls questions from public and proprietary records about your personal history, and you have to answer at least 80% correctly to pass.⁶

Fail the quiz once and you get a single retake within 24 hours. Fail again and you’re locked out from retrying with that notary for at least 24 hours.⁶ The notary cannot run the credential analysis or the identity proofing themselves; both must come from a separate third-party provider.

1
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Title 6 – Section 121.005
2
Texas Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions for Notaries Public
3
State of Texas. Texas Government Code Chapter 406 – Notary Public
4
Texas Secretary of State. How to Perform a Notarization (Transcript)
5
State of Texas. Texas Government Code Chapter 406 – Notary Public – Section 406.110
6
The Texas Secretary of State. Identity Proofing and Credential Analysis