The Ohio Surplus Lines license
Surplus Lines
Places Ohio risks with insurers that are not authorized here. It stacks on two other licenses rather than one: Ohio asks a resident applicant for the property line and the casualty line both, and then for a $25,000 bond.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
2
None of them requires a state exam, because this license has none.
Exam
n/a
Not required on any of the routes below.
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 a license already held or a license held in another state.
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Route 1 Hold property and casualty, post the bond and apply
No state exam for this license
Underlying lines
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an Ohio property line of authority and an Ohio casualty line of authority, both held
and bond
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A $25,000 bond from an authorized insurer, made payable to the State of Ohio.
and criminal records check
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A state and federal criminal background check, required of resident applicants.
The Department's own wording is "an individual agent must have both a property license and a casualty license", and it is two lines of authority rather than the single producer license most states ask for. Ohio issues the property line and the casualty line separately, so an applicant who holds only one of them is not eligible. There is no separate examination and no course. The license expires annually on 31 January, and renewing it is conditioned on having collected and paid every surplus lines tax owed to the Ohio Treasurer. A property and casualty agent who merely refers surplus lines business to a licensed surplus lines agent and takes a commission from them needs no license at all, which the Department says in as many words.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-21
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Route 2 Hold an active surplus lines license at home
No state exam for this license
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an active surplus lines license in the applicant's home state
The nonresident limb asks only for the home state license. A nonresident who will personally perform the due diligence that Ohio Revised Code 3905.33 requires also needs an Ohio nonresident license with property and casualty authority, so the two-license condition reaches them by a different route.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-21
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Ohio sets no surplus lines examination and no course; the qualification is two licenses already held and a bond. No national seller prices a product for it.