Getting an insurance license in Texas
Texas licenses through the Texas Department of Insurance, which calls the licensee an agent. Which license you need depends on what you intend to sell, and the requirements differ sharply between them.
License types
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Adjuster: All Lines
Adjusts every line of Texas insurance loss. It is the largest adjuster market in the country and the one Texas license family with a real course route: a TDI-approved course in adjusting losses, passed under proctor, takes the place of the state examination.
No count
3 courses from $239.95
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Adjuster: Designated Home State - All Lines
The Texas license for adjusters who live in a state that licenses no adjusters at all. Living in a state that does issue one makes an applicant ineligible, and TDI keeps the fee.
No count
3 courses from $239.95
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Adjuster: Emergency (Catastrophe)
A 90-day Texas adjuster license issued during a disaster on somebody else's sponsorship. No examination, no fingerprint background check and a $20 fee.
No course
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Adjuster: Property and Casualty
Adjusts Texas property and casualty losses, narrower than the all lines adjuster license. It carries the same course route: a TDI-approved course in adjusting losses, passed under proctor, takes the place of the state examination.
No count
2 courses from $239.95
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Adjuster: Trainee
Lets somebody act as a Texas adjuster for up to twelve months on a licensed adjuster's sponsorship and supervision. There is no examination and no course.
No course
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Adjuster: Workers' Compensation
Adjusts Texas workers' compensation claims. Four courses in the state's whole pre-licensing register are approved for it, against fifty-nine for the all lines license.
No count
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County Mutual
Sells the policies of a Texas county mutual insurance company. Its five hours of training and its licensing examination both come from the appointing company rather than from a school or from Pearson VUE.
5 hrs
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Emergency General Lines - Property and Casualty
Issued to keep a property and casualty agency running when the agent behind it dies, becomes disabled or is found insolvent. It is the one Texas agent license granted without the examination, it lasts 90 days, and the Department must be satisfied it is needed to preserve the agency's assets.
No course
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Escrow Officer
Handles escrow for a Texas title agent or direct operation. It needs no examination at all, and it is the one Texas license bounded by geography: only a resident of Texas or of a state next to Texas may hold it.
No course
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Funeral Pre-arrangement Life
Sells life insurance written to fund a pre-arranged funeral. Like the county mutual license, its five hours of training and its examination both come from the appointing insurance company.
5 hrs
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General Lines - Life, Accident, Health and HMO
The main Texas life and health license, and Texas requires no pre-licensing course for it either. The examination itself is waived for a Chartered Life Underwriter.
No course
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General Lines - Property and Casualty
The main Texas property and casualty license. Texas requires no pre-licensing course for it: the Department's own application page starts at the examination.
No course
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Life Agent
A Texas license for life insurance on its own, narrower than the general lines life, accident, health and HMO license. The Chartered Life Underwriter waiver the general lines license carries is not offered here.
No course
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Life Insurance Not Exceeding $25,000
Sells life policies whose face amount stops at $25,000. Its five hours of training and its examination both come from the appointing life insurance company, and nothing else stands between the applicant and the license.
5 hrs
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Life Settlement Broker / Expectancy Estimator
Negotiates the sale of an existing life policy from its original owner to a settlement provider. A life or health agent of a year's standing registers for it instead of applying for it, which is the only place Texas splits a license that way.
No course
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Life Settlement Provider
The entity that buys a life policy from its original owner. An entity license with no examination and a $100 fee, twice what most Texas licenses cost.
No course
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Limited Lines
A Texas agent license for a limited set of property and casualty cover. It sits under the general lines property and casualty license, which may stand in for it wherever an agency needs a responsible producer.
No course
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Managing General Agent
Acts for an insurer in Texas with authority over underwriting and, in some arrangements, over claims. It is one of the three licenses that can stand underneath a Texas surplus lines license.
No course
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Personal Lines Property and Casualty
Sells personal property and casualty cover in Texas, the home and motor half of the general lines property and casualty license. Texas requires no pre-licensing course for it, and the examination is waived for a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter.
No course
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Adjuster: Public Insurance
Adjusts a Texas loss for the policyholder rather than for the insurer. It is the one Texas adjuster license with no course route at all: chapter 4102 waives its examination only for reciprocity.
No course
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Reinsurance Broker
Places reinsurance for a Texas ceding insurer. No examination and no course, and at $500 it is the most expensive license application the Department charges.
No course
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Reinsurance Manager
Manages the reinsurance of a Texas insurer. It has no examination and no course, and the qualification is three years of experience in insurance or reinsurance rather than anything sat or studied.
No course
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Risk Manager
Advises Texas clients on managing their own risk rather than selling them cover. It carries four designation waivers, more than any other license in the state.
No course
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Specialty: Credit
A Texas specialty license for selling credit insurance alongside the thing it covers. It needs no examination and no fingerprint background check, and its training comes from the agency and the insurer rather than from a school.
No count
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Specialty: Portable Electronic Vendor
A Texas specialty license for selling portable electronic insurance alongside the thing it covers. It needs no examination and no fingerprint background check, and its training comes from the agency and the insurer rather than from a school.
No count
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Specialty: Rental Car Company
A Texas specialty license for selling rental car insurance alongside the thing it covers. It needs no examination and no fingerprint background check, and its training comes from the agency and the insurer rather than from a school.
No count
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Specialty: Self-service Storage Facility
A Texas specialty license for selling self-storage facility insurance alongside the thing it covers. It needs no examination and no fingerprint background check, and its training comes from the agency and the insurer rather than from a school.
No count
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Specialty: Travel
A Texas specialty license for selling travel insurance alongside the thing it covers. It needs no examination and no fingerprint background check, and its training comes from the agency and the insurer rather than from a school.
No count
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Surplus Lines
Places Texas business with insurers not admitted in Texas. It cannot be a first license: a resident has to already hold a general lines, property and casualty, or managing general agent license before applying for it.
No course
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Temporary General Lines
One 180-day license, issued through the company considering the appointment, that lets an applicant work either general lines while sitting the examination. Its forty hours are employer training rather than a pre-licensing course anyone sells, and only one is ever issued to a person.
40 hrs
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Title Insurance
Issues Texas title insurance as an agency or as a direct operation. It is the one Texas license with neither an examination nor a fingerprint background check.
No course
Is a course required?
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for General Lines - Property and Casualty.
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for this license. The Department's own application page lists taking the exam as the first step and states no education prerequisite. A sourced zero rather than an unread field: this is one of the largest insurance markets in the country and it does not mandate a course.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-13
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for General Lines - Life, Accident, Health and HMO.
No pre-licensing course requirement on the Department's application page. The exam itself is waived for someone holding the Chartered Life Underwriter designation, for a license that expired between 90 days and a year ago, and for a licensee in good standing in a reciprocal state. The 40 hours of training that appears on this page belongs to the TEMPORARY license and is given by the appointing company, not by a school; it is not a pre-licensing course and is recorded separately below.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-13
Texas requires pre-licensing education for Temporary General Lines - Life, Accident, Health and HMO , at 40 hours.
Employer training, not a pre-licensing course. The statute puts the duty on the company rather than the applicant: the agent, insurer or health maintenance organization considering the appointment shall provide at least forty hours of training, and no later than the thirtieth day after the application, fee and certificate reach the Department. At least ten of the forty have to be taught in a classroom, which is a college, a business school, or classes the company sets up for the purpose, and that is the only classroom split in Texas law here. The temporary license itself needs no written examination and lasts 180 days. It is recorded because a reader searching for Texas hour requirements will find this figure elsewhere and needs to know what it actually attaches to. Subchapter D of chapter 4001 is not written per line of authority; the Department publishes the requirement on its Life, Accident, Health and HMO application page, which is where this was read.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-13 . Tex. Ins. Code § 4001.160(a) and (b)
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for Life Agent, Limited Lines, Managing General Agent, Personal Lines Property and Casualty, Risk Manager, Surplus Lines.
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for any of these. Each of TDI's own application pages begins at the examination and none of them states an education prerequisite. A sourced zero read off six separate departmental pages rather than inferred from one.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-17
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for Escrow Officer, Title Insurance, Life Settlement Broker / Expectancy Estimator, Life Settlement Provider, Reinsurance Broker, Reinsurance Manager, Adjuster: Trainee, Adjuster: Emergency (Catastrophe).
No course and no examination either. TDI states in terms on each of these pages that no exam is needed, and asks for no education anywhere on them. Title insurance is the only Texas license whose page waives the fingerprint background check as well as the examination.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-17
Texas requires pre-licensing education for County Mutual, Funeral Pre-arrangement Life, Life Insurance Not Exceeding $25,000 , at 5 hours.
Five hours, and both the class and the examination come from the appointing insurance company rather than from a school or from Pearson VUE. It is a real requirement on the applicant and there is nothing for sale that meets it, which is the opposite of the temporary license's forty hours: those are a duty on the employer. Texas is the only state on this site with three licenses whose licensing examination the Department does not administer. Mississippi has the only other one anywhere here: the Industrial Life line of its Limited Lines Insurance Producer license, examined by Allied Funeral Associates Insurance Company.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-17
Texas requires pre-licensing education for Specialty: Credit, Specialty: Portable Electronic Vendor, Specialty: Rental Car Company, Specialty: Self-service Storage Facility, Specialty: Travel . No hour count is published with it, and the note below says what that means here.
Training is required and no length is published. TDI's wording is the same on all five pages: you must complete training programs given by the insurance agency and the insurance company. No hours, no approval, no examination and no fingerprint background check. The hours are null rather than zero because a course is asked for, which is West Virginia's shape rather than Alabama's.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-17
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for Adjuster: All Lines, Adjuster: Property and Casualty, Adjuster: Workers' Compensation, Adjuster: Designated Home State - All Lines.
Zero hours are required and a course is still worth buying, which is a combination no other state on this site has. Nothing obliges a Texas adjuster to take a course: 4101.056(a)(4) offers one as a way past the state examination instead. Complete a course in adjusting losses prescribed and approved by the commissioner, pass an examination on it sat in a controlled, supervised and proctored environment run by a disinterested third party, and the state examination is waived. TDI adds a twelve-month freshness the statute does not carry and points at Sircon for the approved list. So the hours figure is zero and the course list is a real course comparison, because a product sold into Texas for an adjuster license can satisfy a route.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-17 . Tex. Ins. Code § 4101.056(a)(4), (b) and (c)
Texas requires no pre-licensing course for Adjuster: Public Insurance.
Two adjuster chapters in one state and they disagree. Chapter 4102's list of what the commissioner must find is closed and has no course in it, and 4102.058 waives the examination only for a licensee of a reciprocal state that examines for the license itself. The approved-course route chapter 4101 gives every other adjuster license is absent here, on the statute and on TDI's own page alike. What 4102.053(a) does ask for is sufficient experience or training in assessing property values and physical loss, with no period attached, which is Mississippi's shape.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-17 . Tex. Ins. Code § 4102.053(a) and § 4102.058
Fees
| Charge | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| License application, resident agent TDI charges $50 to apply, for a resident or a non-resident and for an individual or an agency alike, and it is the same $50 across the agent licenses it issues. Tex. Ins. Code 4001.005 lets the Department set it. The application has to be filed within a year of passing the examination or the examination is retaken. | Texas Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Temporary license application Covers both the temporary and the permanent license application. | Texas Department of Insurance | $150.00 |
| Fingerprint background check Required by the Department of every resident agent and adjuster applicant, and paid to IdentoGO rather than to the Department. The amount stays unread rather than guessed, and this is where it lives so nobody searches for it again: the Department's service code is 11G6QF, TDI's fingerprinting-process, fingerprint-instructions and fingerprint-faq pages all carry the procedure and no figure, and IdentoGO shows a price only at the payment step inside the booking flow for that code. Other Texas agencies publish $9.95 or $10.00 plus $31.50 for the state and national record check, but those are different service codes with different record-check scopes and the figure is not transferable. The totals under this row are therefore floors. The 90-day emergency catastrophe adjuster license is the one that asks for no fingerprints, so it is left out. | IdentoGO | Not confirmed |
| Adjuster license application The same $50 for the all lines, property and casualty, workers' compensation, designated home state and public insurance adjuster licenses, and for an adjuster agency. Tex. Ins. Code 4101.057 caps it there. | Texas Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
| Adjuster license reinstatement late fee On top of the $50 application fee, invoiced by email and paid through a free Sircon account. It applies to a license expired more than 90 days and less than a year, so it is a charge on a lapsed license rather than a cost of getting a first one, and it is scoped to nothing. | Texas Department of Insurance | $25.00 |
| Emergency (catastrophe) adjuster license The cheapest license application Texas charges. A non-resident who already holds a home state or designated home state license pays the ordinary $50 instead. | Texas Department of Insurance | $20.00 |
| Life settlement provider license | Texas Department of Insurance | $100.00 |
| Reinsurance broker or manager license Ten times the ordinary Texas application fee, and the same for both halves of the pair. | Texas Department of Insurance | $500.00 |
| All lines adjuster examination Paid when the reservation is made, by card, voucher or electronic check, and never at the testing center. TDI publishes it on the designated home state page and on no other. Tex. Ins. Code 4101.057 caps an adjuster examination fee at $50. | Pearson VUE | $49.00 |
| Emergency general lines property and casualty license The Department publishes it on its general property apply page at the same $50 as an ordinary resident property and casualty application. Tex. Ins. Code 4051.054 issues the license without examination and for 90 days, renewable once for another 90 inside the same twelve months, so the fee buys at most half a year. | Texas Department of Insurance | $50.00 |
Every amount above was read at its own source between 2026-08-13 and 2026-09-06. Exam and fingerprint charges go to a vendor, not to the Department, and say so.
Approved courses
Texas approves the course itself and publishes the register through Sircon's Approved Courses Inquiry, which TDI points applicants at by name from its own adjuster application pages. Read on 2026-08-17 and captured in full at src/data/generated/tx-approvals.json: 57 providers and 77 courses. Every pre-licensing course in it is an adjuster course, 59 all lines, 13 property and casualty, 4 workers' compensation and one general, and every one of them carries 40 credits. There is no producer course in the register at all, because no Texas producer license requires one. Of the five national sellers, three are on it: A.D. Banker, Kaplan through DF Institute Inc. and WebCE. ExamFX and XCEL are not, and neither is Mometrix.