Congorats, actually there is an "online arena" are within FIDE that online ratings CAN, and do
happen. We have several Fide online GMs in the USA who have ratings of 1800
here is one Edward Duliba, 2485 who is a CGM, Correspondence GM. I believe several years
ago, he won a correspondence (online) FIDE GM Tournament.
This article will help you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_titles#National_titles