Selling insurance in the United States requires a license issued by the state where the business is written, for the specific line of insurance being sold. There is no national insurance license. This page sets out which licenses exist, what each permits, and the requirements that attach beyond the license itself.
A license authorises you to sell defined categories of product, called lines of authority.
Term and permanent life insurance, and in most states annuities. Frequently taken together with health.
Medical, dental, vision, disability, long-term care and Medicare-related products. Medicare alone supports a substantial independent agency sector.
Coverage for physical assets — buildings, contents, business property.
Liability coverage — third-party injury and damage, commercial general liability, auto liability.
Property and casualty are usually issued and studied together as P&C, since virtually every real policy combines both. See our property and casualty page.
A narrower license some states offer, covering individual auto and homeowners but not commercial risk. Quicker to obtain, correspondingly limiting.
Variable life and variable annuities are securities as well as insurance. Selling them requires both an insurance license and a FINRA registration — typically the Series 6 or Series 7, each of which also requires the SIE exam.
An additional authority for placing business with non-admitted carriers, used for unusual or high-hazard risks. See surplus lines training.
Three further requirements catch new producers out.
A license permits you to sell insurance. An appointment authorises you to sell a particular carrier's products. Without at least one appointment you are licensed and unable to write business. Appointments are filed by the carrier, usually once you are contracted with them or with an agency.
You hold a resident license in your home state. To write business in another state you need a non-resident license there — generally granted on application and fee without a further exam, provided your resident license is in good standing. Most multi-state producers manage these through NIPR.
Licenses renew on a state-set cycle with CE attached, commonly including an ethics component. Non-resident licenses typically renew on the strength of your home-state CE. Letting the home license lapse can take the others with it.
Requirements differ meaningfully between states and change with legislation — confirm the current position with your state's department of insurance.
It depends on what you intend to sell and who is hiring near you. P&C builds a renewing book; life pays larger commissions less predictably; health has a pronounced enrollment cycle. Our comparison of which insurance license you should get works through the decision.
Credentials such as the CPCU, CLU, CIC and AINS are professional designations. They demonstrate expertise and help with advancement, but none of them authorises you to sell insurance. Only a state license does that. See insurance certifications and designations for how they compare.
Producers who eventually operate an agency encounter a requirement that individual licensing does not cover. Most states license business entities separately, requiring the agency to hold its own license, designate a responsible licensed producer, and obtain its own carrier appointments.
This matters at the point of forming an agency rather than at the start of a career, but it is worth knowing that an individual license does not authorise an agency to operate.
A producer who holds several lines across several states is managing a portfolio of licenses, each with a renewal date and continuing education requirement, plus product-specific training for annuities, long-term care and Medicare.
Most producers who lose a license do so through an administrative oversight rather than a conduct issue. A single calendar holding every renewal and training deadline is the entire solution, and it is worth building in the first month.
A state producer license in the lines you will sell, plus a carrier appointment before you can write business. Add non-resident licenses for other states, securities registration for variable products, and surplus lines authority for non-admitted business.
Designations such as the CPCU and CLU are not licenses. They demonstrate expertise and support advancement, but only a state license authorises you to sell insurance.
In most states, yes, if the work involves discussing coverage. Purely clerical work is generally treated differently — confirm your state's position.
NIPR handles applications and non-resident licensing for most states, and is the practical hub once you hold licenses in more than one.
Yes, with a non-resident license in each state where you write business.
No state requires one for a producer license.
You cannot write business, and reinstatement may require additional CE or re-examination depending on how long it has lapsed.
Yes, and many producers do — each line has its own coursework, exam and CE.
Choose your line, then take a state-approved course. Browse everything on our insurance pre-licensing courses page.
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