Nationwide
Insurance license requirements by state
Also available as static pages in the licensing directory, including a sourced California cost walkthrough.
Insurance producer licensing is handled by each state and the District of Columbia. Choose a location to open that regulator’s official page. The steps below are a general national sequence — your state may add, skip, or reorder items.
About timelines: Any weeks or hours shown here are a planning estimate based only on numbers you enter. They are not an official forecast from a regulator or testing vendor, and they do not predict when a license will be issued.
Fees change. Mark every dollar figure as approximate and verify it on the live source page before you pay.
Nationwide steps (typical)
- Pre-licensing education where required. Some states still require product coursework; others have changed those rules. Confirm hours and approved providers with the state.
- State examination through that state’s testing vendor (vendors differ).
- Fingerprinting or another background check when the state requires it.
- License application — in most states this can be filed through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) or a state portal the regulator names.
- Appointment by an insurance company if you will offer that company’s products. Being licensed is not the same as being appointed.
- Continuing education to keep a license active. Hours and topics vary.
Serving clients in more than one state. If you already hold a resident license and may serve people elsewhere, many states offer nonresident producer licenses. Applications are commonly filed through NIPR. You generally must remain in good standing in your home state, and lines of authority often must match. Confirm the other state’s rules — do not assume reciprocity covers everything.
Find every insurance department via the NAIC state insurance department directory.
Your planning calculator
Enter assumptions you are willing to own. The totals are arithmetic on your inputs plus, for California, published regulator/vendor fees cited below.
California published fees (verify current)
- Department exam fee: $55 per attempt
- PSI convenience fee: $43 per attempt if you test at a PSI center or by remote proctoring (the Department also operates its own exam site in Los Angeles)
- Live Scan: $74 total ($17 FBI + $32 DOJ + $25 vendor)
- License filing fee: $188 for Life-Only, Accident & Health, or both if applied for together
As of January 1, 2026, California no longer requires the former 20-hour or 40-hour life/health product pre-licensing course. The 12-hour Ethics and California Insurance Code course (including 1 hour on insurance fraud) is still required before the license can be issued. Previously completed 32-hour or 52-hour courses that included the ethics and code material can remain valid for three years. You may be able to schedule the exam before finishing the 12-hour course — confirm the current sequence on the Department’s pages.
California, as a fully worked example
Use this only if California is the state you selected. Other states are not the same.
- Study using the Department’s License Examination Objectives. A separate product pre-licensing course is no longer required as of January 1, 2026.
- Schedule and take the exam (PSI or the Department’s Los Angeles site). Department exam fee $55 per attempt; PSI convenience fee $43 when applicable.
- After passing, complete fingerprinting through the Department’s Live Scan process ($74 as currently published).
- Complete the 12-hour Ethics and California Insurance Code course before the license can be issued.
- File the license application (commonly via the portal the Department names, such as Sircon for California) and pay the $188 filing fee.
- If you will offer a company’s products, that company must appoint you. Then complete any product-specific training the law requires before soliciting those products (for example, extra California annuity or long-term care training).
Confirm the current sequence on the Department’s application-procedures pages before you act. Links are collected on the Sources page.