If a person is to be notarized by you, they must appear before you. But, what does that really mean? They should be several feet from you and have the ability to communicate directly with you. This seems obvious, but at a jail, the person might be behind a window, and you might have to communicate with a microphone. Or the person could be at the other end of a room behind a window, and you might not even be able to see the person properly. I was asked to notarize someone in jail in such a situation. Another common situation is that the signer's friend brings a document to you and wants you to notarize it without the signer appearing before you. Don't notarize a person unless they are within several feet of you and you can communicate with them directly.