Insurance License Hub

The Texas Surplus Lines license

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.

Course

None

This license has no pre-licensing course route.

Ways in

2

1 of them skips the state exam.

Exam

Not confirmed

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 or a license already held.

  1. Route 1 Hold an underlying Texas license and pass the examination

    State exam required

    • a Texas general lines agent license

    • or

      a Texas property and casualty agent license

    • or

      a Texas managing general agent license

    TDI states the prerequisite before it states anything else: to apply for a surplus lines license you already must have another license in good standing. For a resident that is a general lines agent, property and casualty agent, or managing general agent license; a non-resident needs a reciprocal state's surplus lines license. The examination sits on top of whichever one is held, which is the stacked shape Iowa's excess and surplus lines license has.

    Read at the Department on 2026-08-17

  2. Route 2 Reinstate a license that expired between 90 days and a year ago

    Exempt from the state exam

    • a Texas surplus lines license that expired more than 90 days and less than one year ago

    TDI lists an expired license among the reasons no examination is needed, and it is bounded at both ends: inside the first 90 days the renewal process is used instead, and after a year the examination comes back. So this route begins where renewal stops.

    Read at the Department on 2026-08-17

Courses

You do not have to buy any of this. The Texas Department of Insurance 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.

  • WebCE

    Exam practice. No course is required, so this is what to study.

    $109.95

    See 1 option ▾

    • TX Surplus Lines Agent Exam Prep Complete Package

      $109.95

    Go to WebCE