Every state sets its own requirements for a life and health insurance license, but they are built from the same components. This page covers each component, what varies between states, and the requirements people most often overlook until they become a problem.
For the order of operations, see how to get a life and health insurance license. For what the license permits once you hold it, see the complete guide.
Applicants must generally be at least 18.
You must be legally able to work in the United States. States verify this as part of the application.
Your resident license comes from the state where you live. If you live in a state and work in another, the resident license still follows residence, and you add the other state as a non-resident license.
No state requires a college degree. This is worth stating plainly because it is the single most common misconception about entering insurance.
States assess whether an applicant is trustworthy enough to handle client funds and confidential information. This is where criminal history, and more importantly candor about it, comes in.
Most states require completion of an approved pre-licensing course before you may sit the exam. Three things vary:
Because these are legislative, confirm before enrolling. [VERIFY: your state's current pre-licensing hour requirement for life, health and combined lines — source: your state department of insurance]
Two practical notes. The hour figure is a regulatory minimum, not an estimate of the preparation needed to pass. And completion certificates frequently expire — many states require you to sit the exam within a set window afterward, which constrains how long you can spread the study.
Approved courses are available in several formats: self-paced combined Life & Health, live online with an instructor, or single-line life and health courses.
The exam has two parts and both must be passed.
Insurance principles and product knowledge: risk and its transfer, insurable interest, indemnity, contract structure, policy provisions and riders, underwriting basics, and the characteristics of term, whole, universal and variable life, annuities, medical, disability, long-term care and supplemental health products.
Your state's insurance code: licensing and appointment rules, producer conduct and prohibited practices, required disclosures, replacement regulations, free-look periods, claim settlement rules and any state-mandated coverages.
The state section is the one candidates fail. General principles can be reasoned about; a statutory notice period cannot. It has to be memorized, and it is consistently under-studied.
Nearly every state fingerprints applicants and runs a criminal background check.
Two points are worth being direct about. First, a criminal record does not automatically disqualify you. States assess the nature of the offense, how long ago it was, and what has happened since. Financial crimes and offenses involving dishonesty are treated most seriously, because the license concerns handling other people's money.
Second, disclose everything. Applicants routinely omit old matters they believe were expunged or sealed, and the omission — rather than the underlying offense — is what ends the application. A disclosed matter is a routine review. An undisclosed one that appears in the check is a candor finding.
If you have history you are unsure about, some states offer a pre-application determination. It is worth using before paying for coursework.
Applications are generally filed electronically, often through NIPR, with a state fee. Expect to provide identification details, employment history, and answers to background questions.
Most processing delays are correctable errors: a name that does not match your identification, gaps in employment history, or an unanswered question. Accuracy is worth more than speed at this stage.
The requirement people do not know is a requirement. A license authorizes you to sell insurance; an appointment authorizes you to sell a particular carrier's products, and is filed by the carrier once you are contracted with them or with an agency.
Without an appointment you are licensed and unable to write business. Carriers run their own vetting before appointing, which can include a further background review and, for some, a credit check.
Licenses renew on a state-set cycle — commonly every two years — with a continuing education requirement attached, usually including an ethics component.
Three things reliably catch agents out:
Non-resident licenses are usually granted on application and fee, without re-examination, provided your resident license is in good standing. Some states impose additional conditions, and a few require specific state-law training even for non-residents.
These sit on top of the license, not instead of it, and each has its own renewal cycle. Agents who sell across several of these categories are managing multiple independent compliance calendars — which is worth setting up deliberately rather than discovering in year two.
The components are consistent across states; the detail is not, and the differences are large enough to change your plan.
Some states require no pre-licensing education at all, allowing candidates to sit the exam directly. Others require substantial hours with a portion dedicated to ethics.
Some states issue life and health as one combined license; others issue them as separate lines with separate requirements, meaning two courses, two exams and two sets of continuing education.
Exam structure varies — the split between general and state content, whether sections can be taken separately, and which vendor administers it.
Fingerprinting arrangements vary, including whether it can be completed before the exam. Where it can, doing so removes the most common bottleneck.
The practical instruction is the same in every case: read your own state's requirements directly before spending money on a course.
New producers frequently plan for the license and are surprised by what follows.
Each runs on its own schedule. A producer selling across several of these categories is managing multiple independent compliance calendars, and the time to set that up is at the outset.
Producers who eventually form an agency encounter an additional layer: business entity licensing. Most states license agencies separately from individuals, requiring a designated responsible licensed producer, entity appointment by carriers, and the agency's own renewal and compliance obligations.
This is not an immediate concern for a new producer, but it is worth knowing that the individual license is not sufficient to operate an agency.
Beyond continuing education, producers must keep their information current — address changes, name changes and any reportable events are generally required to be notified within a defined period.
Reportable events typically include criminal charges, regulatory actions in other states and certain civil matters. Producers who fail to report, believing the matter unrelated to their license, create a separate problem on top of the original one.
If you are comparing states — because you are relocating, or deciding where to establish residency — the differences that matter most are pre-licensing hour requirements, whether life and health are combined or separate lines, renewal cycle length, and continuing education volume.
Exam content differs too, since each state examines its own code, which is why a license in one state does not transfer as such. Non-resident licensing solves the practical problem without re-examination.
Retain your own copies of course completion certificates, examination results and continuing education records rather than relying entirely on provider reporting.
Reporting occasionally fails or lags, and a producer who can produce evidence immediately resolves in minutes what otherwise becomes a renewal problem.
Decide early which state will hold your resident license, because the non-resident licenses depend on it and its continuing education requirement typically satisfies the others. Producers who allow the resident license to lapse discover the dependency at the worst possible moment.
Hour requirements and continuing education rules change with legislation periodically. Confirm with your state before each renewal rather than assuming continuity.
An incomplete or inconsistent application. Name mismatches and employment gaps account for a large share of processing delays.
Education yes, in most states. The exam is usually at a testing center, and fingerprinting is in person.
Until its renewal date, on a state-set cycle, provided CE is completed.
You cannot write business. Reinstatement is usually possible but may require additional CE or, after a longer lapse, re-examination.
Hour requirements and exam content differ by line. Most candidates satisfy both at once through the combined course and exam.
Start with a state-approved course: Life & Health pre-licensing exam prep, or see the full pre-licensing catalog.
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