Getting an insurance license in Illinois
Illinois licenses through the Illinois Department of Insurance, which calls the licensee a producer. Which license you need depends on what you intend to sell, and the requirements differ sharply between them.
License types
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Accident/Health
Sells accident and health cover in Illinois.
20 hrs
3 courses from $159.95
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Car Rental Limited Line
The rental counter's license, and Illinois charges it what it charges a producer: $215 for a resident and $380 for a nonresident, against $50 for the self-storage license written in the section next door. A franchisee has to hold its own.
No course
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Casualty
Sells casualty insurance in Illinois, which is the liability half of property and casualty.
20 hrs
3 courses from $159.95
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Fire (Property)
Sells property insurance in Illinois. The Department still calls the line Fire.
20 hrs
3 courses from $159.95
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Life
Sells life insurance in Illinois.
20 hrs
3 courses from $159.95
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Limited Lines Producer
One license covering eight classes Illinois names in a single subsection, from industrial life to enrolling public aid recipients in an HMO. The insurance company applies for it and pays for it, the licensee never sits an examination, and 500-100(h) takes the pre-licensing course off in seven words.
No course
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Motor Vehicle
Sells motor vehicle insurance in Illinois. It is the one line the Department sets below twenty hours.
12.5 hrs
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Personal Lines - Fire (Property) and Casualty
Sells the household half of Fire and Casualty in Illinois, as one line of authority rather than two.
20 hrs
2 courses from $159.95
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Pharmacy Benefit Manager
A registration at $500 for two years, and then a charge that dwarfs it: since 2025 a registered pharmacy benefit manager pays $15 a year for every Illinois resident covered under every health benefit plan it administers.
No course
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Portable Electronics Limited Line
The retailer's license for cover sold with a phone. One license reaches every location the vendor trades from, and it is the supervising entity rather than the Department that keeps the register of which ones those are.
No course
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Premium Finance Company
Lends a policyholder the premium and takes a service charge. Illinois is the only state on this site where a producer can acquire the license requirement by accounting rather than by choosing to: let a tenth of your receivables run ninety days past due and the Code deems you to be in the business.
No course
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Public Adjuster
The only adjuster license Illinois issues, and it is the policyholder's: 215 ILCS 5/1505 limits it to assisting insureds in first party claims. It is also the only license in the state whose applicant has to keep an office the public can reach.
No course
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Self-Service Storage Facility Limited Line
The storage operator's license, written in the same grammar as the car rental one in the section before it and priced at a quarter of it. It covers a tenant's goods in storage or in transit, and the Director may approve anything else he finds meaningful and appropriate.
No course
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Temporary Producer
Not a way into the business. Illinois issues its temporary license to a dead or disabled producer's survivor, to a business entity whose designated individual has died, and to the designee of a producer called up to the armed forces, so it exists to keep somebody else's book alive rather than to let a beginner start selling.
No course
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Third Party Administrator
Handles other people's premiums or claims, and its bond is sized to the money it touches: five percent of what it expects to hold for Illinois residents next year, on a $50,000 floor and a $1,000,000 ceiling. Acting without the license is a Class A misdemeanor.
No course
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Third Party Prescription Program Administrator
A registration rather than a license, and the only instrument on the Illinois schedule whose fee the statute leaves entirely to the Director. It has sat in the Code since 1982 and the Department still lists it beside the licenses.
No course
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Travel Insurance Business Entity
The entity that registers travel retailers under its own license and answers for what they do. Illinois licenses the supervisor and registers the shop, which is the reverse of how most states here handle a counter.
No course
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Travel Retailer Limited Lines
The shop that offers travel insurance under somebody else's license. It is registered by the travel insurance business entity rather than by itself, and what its staff may say is written into the statute.
No course
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Viatical Settlement Broker
A registration a life producer of a year's standing files, and the one thing on the Illinois producer side that carries a course requirement the Department had never had recorded here: four hours before anybody negotiates a viatical settlement contract, and four more every two years afterwards.
4 hrs
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Viatical Settlement Provider
The company that buys the policy. At $3,000 to apply and $1,500 a year to keep, it is the most expensive license Illinois issues, and it is on the Department's second list rather than on its fee schedule.
No course
Is a course required?
Illinois requires pre-licensing education for Life, Accident/Health, Fire (Property), Casualty, Personal Lines , at 20 hours.
20 hours per line of authority, of which 7.5 must be completed in a classroom or webinar setting. The classroom half is the part that matters when choosing a course: a fully self-paced online course does not satisfy Illinois on its own, whatever its total hours. The statute is where the split is written, and it says classroom OR WEBINAR. The Department's applicant page says classroom alone, which reads as excluding a live online class that the law allows. Two routes skip the course entirely and the examination with it, both at 215 ILCS 5/500-45: holding the same line in another state now or within the last ninety days, and moving here and applying within ninety days of establishing residence. A third route skips the course and not the examination, and it is in the Director's rule rather than in the Code: 215 ILCS 5/500-30(a)(3) asks for a course "if required by the Director", and 50 Ill. Adm. Code 3119.45(a)(2) is where the Director lets it go. An applicant holding a college degree in insurance from an accredited institution of higher education is exempt for every class, and so is an applicant holding one of the designations the rule keeps per class: CEBS, ChFC, CIC, CFP, CLU, FLMI, LACP, LUTCF and RICP for Life; RHU, CEBS, REBC and HIA for Accident and Health; and AAI, ARM, CIC, CRM and CPCU for Property and Casualty. Pearson's Illinois candidate handbook says the same thing in one line, "Candidates with certain professional designations are exempt from the prelicensing requirement."The exemption reaches the classroom hours with the rest of the course and it does not reach the paper, which is what separates it from the two reciprocity routes above. The rule was last amended at 50 Ill. Reg. 753, effective 2025-12-30.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-20 . 215 ILCS 5/500-30(b)
Illinois requires pre-licensing education for Motor Vehicle , at 12.5 hours.
The one line Illinois sets lower, at 12.5 hours with 5 in a classroom or webinar setting. The statute is where the split is written, and it says classroom OR WEBINAR. The Department's applicant page says classroom alone, which reads as excluding a live online class that the law allows. Two routes skip the course entirely and the examination with it, both at 215 ILCS 5/500-45: holding the same line in another state now or within the last ninety days, and moving here and applying within ninety days of establishing residence. A third route skips the course and not the examination, and it is in the Director's rule rather than in the Code: 215 ILCS 5/500-30(a)(3) asks for a course "if required by the Director", and 50 Ill. Adm. Code 3119.45(a)(2) is where the Director lets it go. Motor Vehicle is a class of casualty insurance, so the list that reaches it is the Property and Casualty one, AAI, ARM, CIC, CRM and CPCU, and a college degree in insurance from an accredited institution of higher education is accepted for every class. The exemption reaches the five classroom hours with the rest of the course and it does not reach the paper. The rule was last amended at 50 Ill. Reg. 753, effective 2025-12-30.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-20 . 215 ILCS 5/500-30(b)
Illinois requires pre-licensing education for Viatical Settlement Broker , at 4 hours.
Four hours, one time, before anybody sells, solicits or negotiates a viatical settlement contract, and four more over every 24-month period afterwards. 159/11(b)(1) sets both figures and (b)(2) sets the syllabus: state and federal law on viatical settlement transactions, the tax implications for participants, the effect on public benefits payments, alternatives to a viatical settlement contract, and consumer suitability standards. (b)(3) forbids the course from carrying any company's sales or marketing material beyond what the law requires. The verification does not sit with the Department: 159/11(c) makes the viatical settlement provider obtain proof that a producer has been trained before letting them negotiate, and keep the records. The Department publishes a Viatical Training Provider List on its All Other Licenses page. Training done in any other state counts, under (d), and the same hours may be approved as continuing education under 500-35(b)(1), so a broker can spend them once.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-20 . 215 ILCS 159/11, Viatical settlement broker training requirements
Fees
| Charge | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Resident producer license Buys a two-year term, and the renewal is the same figure. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $215.00 |
| Non-resident producer license Two-year term, and renewal is again the same. It is an alternative to the $215 a resident pays rather than a charge on top of it, so no cost page totals both. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $380.00 |
| Examination application fee The State's own charge for processing a request to sit a paper, set by 500-135(a)(5) for a producer and by 1563(3) for a public adjuster. Pearson collects it inside the $92 it charges and passes it on, so it is not paid twice. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Public adjuster license, resident Two years, paid by electronic funds transfer at the time of application. A nonresident pays $500 and a business entity $250. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $250.00 |
| Temporary producer license Paid on the original license and not on its 180-day renewal. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Limited lines producer license Annual, and paid by the insurance company that appoints the licensee rather than by the licensee. A limited lines license that is none of the eight classes at 500-100(a), and is not car rental or self-service storage, is $200 every two years instead. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Car rental limited line license Every two years, and $380 for a nonresident. A franchisee applies for its own rather than trading under the franchisor's. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $215.00 |
| Self-service storage facility limited line license Every two years, against $215 for the car rental license in the section before it. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Portable electronic limited license Initial and renewal alike, on a 24-month license expiring 31 May. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $500.00 |
| Travel insurance business entity license Initial and each renewal, payable on 31 May annually. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $500.00 |
| Third party administrator license A non-refundable filing fee that becomes the initial license fee, then $200 a year before the anniversary date. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $200.00 |
| Third party prescription program registration The statute sets no figure and leaves it to the Director by rule; $50 is where the rule arrived. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Premium finance license Annual and non-refundable, the same for an individual as for a corporation or partnership. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $400.00 |
| Pharmacy benefit manager registration A two-year certificate, capped rather than set by 513b2(d). The $15 a year for every Illinois resident covered is separate and is usually much the larger number. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $500.00 |
| Viatical settlement broker registration Paid once, with the notice to the Director, into the Insurance Producer Administration Fund. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $500.00 |
| Viatical settlement provider license The largest application fee Illinois charges, renewing at $1,500 on each anniversary. Neither figure is on the Department's producer fee schedule; both are in the Act. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $3,000.00 |
| Business entity producer license Every two years, for the entity form of a license an individual already holds. It is nobody's route cost and no cost page totals it. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $150.00 |
| Penalty and reinstatement Charged on top of the license fee, so a lapsed resident license costs $430 to put right and a nonresident's $760. It is a penalty rather than a cost of getting licensed, so no cost page totals it. | Illinois Department of Insurance | $215.00 |
Every amount above was read at its own source on 2026-08-20. Exam and fingerprint charges go to a vendor, not to the Department, and say so.
Approved courses
Illinois certifies the provider rather than the course, and its own applicant page sends people to the State Based Systems education provider look-up to find a certified one. The look-up is run by the NAIC's vendor rather than by the Department. State Based Systems has now moved twice: statebasedsystems.com answered 404 and 403 on 2026-08-20, and the sbs.naic.org per-state page that replaced it answered 404 on 2026-08-22, with sbs.naic.org's own root redirecting behind an NAIC login. This link is the Department's own page rather than the vendor's, because the Department's page is what has stayed put through three vendor moves and it is the page that carries the current look-up link. Illinois also publishes a second, narrower list on the same page as its other licenses: a Viatical Training Provider List, for the four hours 215 ILCS 159/11 asks of a viatical settlement broker. That requirement is a course this repo had not recorded for Illinois at all before 2026-08-20. You can search it at the Department .