Getting an insurance license in Minnesota
Minnesota licenses through the Minnesota Department of Commerce, 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 and Health
Sells accident and health cover in Minnesota.
20 hrs
3 courses from $109.95
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Bail Bonds
Writes the three-party contract that releases an accused person into a surety's custody. Minnesota holds it as a limited line on the producer license and gives chapter 60M a whole chapter of conduct rules to sit on top of it.
No course
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Casualty
Sells casualty insurance in Minnesota.
20 hrs
3 courses from $109.95
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Crop Hail Adjuster
Adjusts claims under policies insuring crops against hail damage. It is the third class of Minnesota adjuster license and the only one with no examination, no fingerprinting and no continuing education attached to it.
No course
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Independent Adjuster
Investigates, negotiates and settles property, casualty or workers' compensation claims for insurers and self-insurers as a contractor rather than an employee. One of the three classes of adjuster license Minnesota issues, and it carries the lines of authority the applicant is examined on.
No course
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Insurance Premium Finance Company
Lends a policyholder the premium and takes an assignment of the unearned premium as security. Minnesota licenses the lender, and it is a misdemeanor to do the business without one.
No course
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Life
Sells life insurance in Minnesota.
20 hrs
3 courses from $109.95
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Limited Lines Credit Insurance
Credit life, credit disability and the rest of the cover sold alongside a loan, held as a limited line on the producer license. No examination and no course: Minnesota takes the paper away from this line by name.
No course
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Limited lines farm property liability
A Minnesota line the statute names as outside the prelicensing program of studies.
No course
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Managing General Agent
Runs an insurer's Minnesota book from outside the insurer, and Minnesota licenses it in both directions: for risks here written for an insurer licensed here, and for risks elsewhere written for an insurer domiciled here.
No course
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Personal Lines
Sells the household half of property and casualty in Minnesota.
20 hrs
3 courses from $109.95
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Pharmacy Benefit Manager
Administers prescription drug benefits for a health plan, and Minnesota has licensed it through the Department of Commerce since 1 January 2020. At $8,500 to apply and $8,500 every year it is the most expensive license on the Minnesota schedule.
No course
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Portable Electronics Insurance Limited Lines
Held by the shop rather than the person behind the counter. A vendor that sells cover for phones, tablets and their accessories takes one limited lines license, and every employee at every listed location sells under it.
No course
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Property
Sells property insurance in Minnesota.
20 hrs
3 courses from $109.95
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Public Adjuster
Works for the insured rather than the insurer, and Minnesota fences it to first-party claims on real or personal property. A $10,000 bond is a condition of every issue and every renewal, and the insured gets 72 hours to cancel the contract.
No course
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Reinsurance Intermediary
One license covering both halves of the trade, the broker who places cessions for a ceding insurer and the manager who binds or manages a reinsurer's assumed business. Minnesota reaches both through a producer license rather than through a test.
No course
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Self-Insurance or Insurance Plan Administrator
Minnesota's third party administrator license, and the state gives it a wider name than most: it covers anybody who administers a self-insurance or insurance plan for compensation and anybody who sells risk management services to design one.
No course
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Service Contract Provider
Registers the company obliged to perform under an extended service contract. Minnesota asks it for money rather than for knowledge: one of three financial routes, a $750 annual fee, and nothing else.
No course
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Surplus Lines Broker
Places Minnesota risks with insurers the state has not admitted. It is stacked on a Minnesota producer license that has to stay in force, and at $500 to issue and $500 to renew it is ten times what the license underneath it costs.
No course
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Temporary Insurance Producer
A 180-day license issued without an examination to keep an insurance business running when the producer behind it dies, is disabled or is called up. It is granted to service a business rather than to start one.
No course
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Title Insurance
Sells the policy that insures a buyer's or lender's interest in a Minnesota title. It is a limited line on the producer license rather than a license of its own, and it takes neither a course nor an examination.
No course
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Travel Insurance
Trip cancellation, baggage, rental damage and travel sickness cover, held as a limited line on the producer license. The retail counter underneath it holds nothing: the licensee registers its travel retailers and answers for them.
No course
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Variable life and variable annuity
A Minnesota line the statute names as outside the prelicensing program of studies.
No course
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Vehicle Protection Product Warrantor
Registers the company that stands behind an anti-theft or protection product warranty on a vehicle. The seller across the counter is expressly outside it: Minnesota registers the obligor and nobody else.
No course
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Viatical Settlement Broker
Acts for the policy owner in negotiating a viatical settlement. A life producer of a year's standing is deemed to meet the licensing requirements and files a notification instead, which is the cheaper of the two ways in.
No course
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Viatical Settlement Investment Agent
Sells the other side of the trade, the interest in a viaticated policy that an investor buys. It is licensed by the purchaser's residence rather than the viator's, which makes it the only Minnesota insurance license fixed by where the investor lives.
No course
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Viatical Settlement Provider
Buys a life policy from its owner for less than the death benefit. Minnesota licenses it by the viator's residence rather than by the provider's, so the question is where the seller of the policy lives.
No course
Is a course required?
Minnesota requires pre-licensing education for Life, Accident and Health, Property, Casualty, Personal Lines , at 20 hours.
Twenty hours per line of authority, and the statute rather than a rule sets what is in them: an introduction to insurance covering every major line, then the specific line's policy types and the Minnesota law that governs it. Someone previously licensed for that line in Minnesota has the course waived outright. Minn. Stat. 60K.36, subd. 4 decides who may teach it as well as how long it runs: the course must not be sponsored by, offered by or affiliated with an insurance company or its producers, and only a bona fide professional association of producers not acting for an insurer is carved out. Subdivision 4a exempts a two-year Minnesota vocational degree in insurance, a four-year business degree with an insurance emphasis and a per-line list of professional designations, and subdivision 4 waives the course outright, with no time limit, for anyone who has held the same line in Minnesota before. Section 60K.40 goes further and drops the examination too, for an applicant licensed for the same lines in another state now or in the last ninety days, and for one who moves here and applies within ninety days of establishing residence.
Read at revisor.mn.gov on 2026-08-16 . Minn. Stat. § 60K.361
Minnesota requires no pre-licensing course for Limited lines farm property liability, Variable life and variable annuity.
The statute names these two lines as outside the prelicensing program of studies. A sourced zero. The same subdivision exempts an applicant holding a two-year Minnesota vocational school degree in insurance or a four-year business degree with an insurance emphasis, and lists designations per line: CEBS, ChFC, CIC, CFP, CLU, FLMI or LUTCF for life; RHU, CEBS, REBC or HIA for health; AAI, ARM, CIC or CPCU for property, casualty and personal lines.
Read at revisor.mn.gov on 2026-08-14 . Minn. Stat. § 60K.36, subd. 4a
Fees
| Charge | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Individual producer license Set in statute at $50 for life, accident and health, property or casualty, and the same for variable, personal lines and limited lines. Renewal is $50 again, and the license runs 24 months. Non-returnable except on an overpayment. Minn. Stat. 60H.03, subd. 4 sends the managing general agent license here too: its term and its fee are the same as a producer's. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $50.00 |
| Technology surcharge A ceiling, not a price: up to $40 on each initial license and each renewal, and the commissioner may adjust it. Charged on top of the license fee, so the real cost of a first Minnesota license is up to $90. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $40.00 |
| Surplus lines license Ten times the producer fee, and the same again to renew. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $500.00 |
| Business entity producer license Four times the individual fee and the same again to renew, and it is an alternative to the individual fee rather than a charge on top of it: an entity pays this and a person pays $50. A business entity license expires on 31 October of its assigned renewal year rather than on a birth month. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $200.00 |
| Portable electronics limited lines license, ten locations or fewer Per location, to issue and to renew. A vendor selling the cover through a website is deemed to be selling from more than ten locations and pays the flat figure instead. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $100.00 |
| Portable electronics limited lines license, more than ten locations Flat, to issue and to renew, however many locations there are above ten. It is an alternative to the per-location row above rather than a charge beside it, so it is scoped to nothing and no cost page totals the two together. A vendor selling through a website is deemed to be above ten and pays this one. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $6,500.00 |
| Adjuster license Each initial license or temporary permit and each renewal or amendment, the same figure for an independent, public or crop hail adjuster. Renewing late but within 12 months costs double the unpaid renewal fee on top. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $50.00 |
| Emergency adjuster registration For each nonlicensed adjuster the insurer registers under Minn. Stat. 72B.06 after a catastrophe. The registration runs 180 days and may be extended for another 180. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $20.00 |
| Reinsurance intermediary license For an initial two-year license, then $150 for each renewal. One fee covers both the broker and the manager role. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $200.00 |
| Viatical settlement license The same figure for a provider, a broker or an investment agent, then $250 on each anniversary. Missing the annual fee revokes the license automatically. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $750.00 |
| Self-insurance or insurance plan administrator license For an initial application and $1,500 for each three-year renewal. The term is three years rather than two, which nothing else on this schedule is. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $1,500.00 |
| Insurance premium finance company license Annually, for a period ending 31 May. A separate $250 investigation fee goes with the first application, and the licensee also pays the actual cost of each examination the commissioner conducts. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $200.00 |
| Service contract provider registration Annually. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $750.00 |
| Vehicle protection product warrantor registration Annually. A registrant gets 30 days to complete a renewal before the commissioner suspends the registration. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $250.00 |
| Pharmacy benefit manager license Nonrefundable, and the same figure again every year: the term is one year rather than two. A renewal filed after the deadline carries a further $500. It is the largest figure on this schedule by a factor of five. | Minnesota Department of Commerce | $8,500.00 |
Every amount above was read at its own source between 2026-08-14 and 2026-08-19. Exam and fingerprint charges go to a vendor, not to the Department, and say so.
Approved courses
The commissioner approves the program of studies, and the organization offering it certifies compliance with the license application. The register is Sircon's, and Minnesota is unusual in what it groups courses by: the category names a delivery rather than a line, so a course is filed as General - Distance Learning, General - Classroom or General - Classroom Webinar and the line it covers appears only in the course's own name. A Minnesota pre-licensing search returns 38 approved courses from 7 providers, every one of them twenty hours and every one named for a line plus Basics, which is the statute's own syllabus showing through. You can search it at sircon.com .