The Iowa Excess and Surplus Lines license
Excess and Surplus Lines
Places business with the nonadmitted insurers Iowa Code chapter 515I governs. It is the one Iowa line that cannot be reached on its own examination alone: the property and casualty examinations come first, and no pre-licensing course is required for either.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
3
2 of them skip the state exam.
Exam
$44
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.
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Route 1 Pass the excess and surplus lines examination on top of the property and casualty ones
State exam required
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a pass in the Iowa examinations for the property and casualty lines of authority
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a pass in the Iowa examinations for the personal lines of authority together with the commercial insurance subject examination
Iowa rule 191-10.4(7). The excess and surplus lines examination is not enough on its own: the applicant must also have passed either the property and casualty examinations or the personal lines examinations together with the commercial insurance subject examination. So the requirement below is owed as well as the examination this route is named for, and a reader budgeting for one test is budgeting for two. No pre-licensing course is asked for any of them, and rule 191-10.4(1) is the six-item list that says so.
Read at legis.iowa.gov on 2026-08-16
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Route 2 Hold the same line in another state
Exempt from the state exam
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an insurance producer license carrying the Excess and Surplus Lines line of authority in another state
Iowa Code 522B.8(1). Somebody previously licensed for the same lines of authority in another state does not sit Iowa's examination. The exemption holds only while that other license is current, or else the request for licensure has to reach the Division within 90 days of its cancellation, with a certification from the other state that the applicant was in good standing when it was cancelled. The certification may be obtained through the producer database.
Read at legis.iowa.gov on 2026-08-16
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Route 3 Move to Iowa and apply within 90 days
Exempt from the state exam
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90 days Licensed as an insurance producer in another state carrying the Excess and Surplus Lines line of authority there, and applying to become an Iowa resident licensee within 90 days of establishing legal residence in Iowa.
Iowa Code 522B.8(2). Iowa writes this one as a duty rather than an option: a producer licensed in another state who moves here "shall make application within ninety days of establishing legal residence" to become a resident licensee under 522B.5. No examination is required for a line of authority previously held in the prior state, unless the commissioner determines otherwise by regulation.
Read at legis.iowa.gov on 2026-08-16
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Courses
You do not have to buy any of this. The Iowa Insurance Division asks for no pre-licensing course, so nothing below is required of you. It is exam prep, priced here so you can see what it costs.
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WebCE
Exam practice. No course is required, so this is what to study.
$109.95
See 1 option Hide ▾-
IA Excess and Surplus Lines Exam Prep Complete Package
$109.95
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