Insurance License Hub

The Idaho Surety license

Surety

Surety in Idaho, and the line a bail agent has to hold. It is not in the Code's own list of six: the list ends with any other line permitted under state laws or rules, and the bail agent sections then name this one. A bail agent holds this producer line and files the bond the Code requires on top of it. No pre-licensing course is required.

Course

None

This license has no pre-licensing course route.

Ways in

3

2 of them skip the state exam.

Exam

$65

Required on some routes and not others.

Every way to qualify

More than one route leads to this license, and which one you take changes what you study and whether you sit the exam. There is no pre-licensing course among them: this license is qualified for by sitting the examination, a license held in another state or moving here already licensed.

  1. Route 1 Pass the examination

    State exam required

    Idaho Code 41-1006(1) asks a resident individual applying for a producer license to pass a written examination unless exempt, and 41-1007(1) is the closed list of what the director must find before approving the application: at least 18 years old, fingerprints submitted where the director asks for them, no act that is a ground for denial anywhere in title 41, the fees under 41-401 paid, and the examinations passed for the lines applied for. No course is in it, which is where Idaho's zero is read. The pass then has a shelf life: 41-1006(4) says an application not received within 180 days of passing shall be denied, and it says denied rather than delayed. Surety is where the Code's catch-all does the work. Idaho Code 41-1008(1)(g) leaves room for any other line permitted under state laws or rules, and 41-1039(1) then uses it: no person may hold out as a bail agent or sell, solicit, negotiate, advise or consult on bail bond contracts unless licensed as a producer in the line of surety insurance. A bail agent also owes the bond at 41-1040 and everything else in 41-1037 through 41-1045, none of which is a course.

    Read at legislature.idaho.gov on 2026-08-16

  2. Route 2 Hold the same line in another state

    Exempt from the state exam

    • an insurance producer license carrying the Surety line of authority in another state

    Idaho Code 41-1012(1). Somebody previously licensed for the same lines of authority in another state completes no prelicensing examination. The exemption holds while that other license is current, or if the application arrives within 90 days of its cancellation and the other state certifies the applicant was in good standing at that point, or the NAIC producer database shows it for the lines being asked for.

    Read at legislature.idaho.gov on 2026-08-16

  3. Route 3 Move to Idaho and apply within 90 days

    Exempt from the state exam

    • 90 days Licensed as an insurance producer in another state carrying the Surety line of authority there, and applying to become an Idaho resident licensee within 90 days of establishing legal residence.

    Idaho Code 41-1012(2). Somebody licensed as a producer in another state who moves to Idaho has 90 days from establishing legal residence to apply as a resident licensee, and Idaho writes it as a duty rather than an option. No examination is required for a line of authority previously held in the prior state unless the director provides otherwise by rule.

    Read at legislature.idaho.gov on 2026-08-16

The Idaho Department of Insurance requires no pre-licensing course for this license, so there is nothing here to price. Anyone selling you one is selling exam practice.