There are certain industries that seem resistant to change and technological innovation: banking is one of them. In the last two weeks, I’ve twice needed to send documents to different banks, and for some reason, these banks don’t accept email, don’t accept cloud uploads, don’t have a secure document submission process online…they required that I mail or fax documents to them. In 2023. Mailing is simply not an option internationally, so I had to use fax. Fortunately, there’s some great faxing options that work for expats.
Faxes Aren’t Dead
Most companies allow you to submit documents via email, but some industries (chiefly banks and medical services) have privacy or security regulations that prevent them from using email since email’s ubiquitous protocols are technically not secure. Most businesses have shifted, instead, to allowing you to upload items through a secure document submission portal…but some of them are still stuck in the 90s (80s?) and require you to fax them information. Why they don’t move to cloud submission is beyond me, but the point is that, as an expat, you never know when you’re going to need to send a fax.
How to Send a Fax as an Expat
If you travel and stay exclusively at Western brand-name hotels, you may be able to use the hotel service to send a fax, though you’ll find that it is quite pricey. If you’re anywhere else in the world, it will take some doing just to find an international fax machine. You’re far better off to use an app-based or internet-based service.
Essentially, what these services do is allow you to submit documents to their company (through an app or web portal), and then their fax machine will relay the fax to the number you’ve provided. Thus, as long as you have an internet connection, you can send a fax. Quick, simple, and pain-free faxes, straight from your phone and anywhere in the world.
What I Recommend: JotNot Fax
There are many different fax services, including several with free trials that you can take advantage of—and even more fax apps on app stores—but the one that I’ve used for 5+ years, used twice last week, and recommend to you is called JotNot Fax. It’s available on the Apple App Store, the Google Play App Store, and online via their website.
Here’s why I’ve always used JotNot Fax:
- Cheap. They offer several packages, but I’ve gotten the 10 fax credits for $10 (they also offer 20 credits for $18). Since each credit is good for faxing 5 pages (cover page is free), that means you can send 50 pages for just $10. They also offer subscription pricing if you regularly need faxing services.
- Reliable. I’ve never had a fax not go through, regardless of where I was in the world.
- Easy to use. It’s a clearly-designed app with no ads, no pop-ups, and no clutter. You can get in, send off a fax, and get out without hassle.
- Easy to import documents. To prepare your fax, you can scan documents with your camera, import from your photos, import from a cloud service, or share from another app into JotNot Fax. Super simple.
I’m sure there are other services out there which are good, but I’ve never had a need or reason to use anything else.
A quick note on privacy
If you use any online fax service, including JotNot, it’s important to remember that you aren’t sending your documents straight to the recipient. Instead, you’re sending your documents to a 3rd party (JotNot) which then faxes them to the final recipient. For the average person, that’s no problem, but if you’ve found Colonel Sander’s secret recipe for fried chicken or are trying to transmit blueprints for the Death Star, then you or your company may prefer to use a service that doesn’t involve a third party. Internationally, that might be quite difficult—even fax machines can be compromised, and you have to trust the operator—but that inconvenience is often the cost of privacy and security.
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Note: This article was originally published with such a horrendous image, it won the 2023 “Can’t Unsee That” TP Award. I’ve since improved the graphic, but for posterity’s sake, you can view the old one here.
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