The Washington Surety license
Surety
Surety in Washington, filed under limited lines at RCW 48.17.170(1)(g) and examined all the same. Washington is the only state on this site that separates its limited lines from its specialty lines, and this is one of the two limited ones the Office asks an examination for.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
3
2 of them skip the state exam.
Exam
Varies
Priced per paper. The prices are below.
Either combination is $55. Each single paper is $38.
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 examination
State exam required
RCW 48.17.110(1) asks a resident individual applying for a producer license to pass a written examination unless exempt under that section or RCW 48.17.175, and RCW 48.17.090(2) is the closed list of what the commissioner must find before approving the application: at least 18 years old, no act that is a ground for denial under 48.17.530, the fees at 48.14.010 paid, and the examinations passed for the lines applied for. Fingerprints go to the state patrol and the FBI, and the applicant pays whatever those agencies charge. No course is in any of it, and has not been since 2023-07-23. Read the Commissioner's own steps rather than the word limited. RCW 48.17.110(2)(a) leaves the examination for the limited lines, the specialty lines and the catch-all to the commissioner's discretion, which means the statute cannot answer this on its own. The Office's producer licensing page answers it in a parenthesis: the steps for a limited lines resident license are to "schedule and pass your exam (surety or credit only)", so those two are examined and travel is not.
Read at the Department 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 Surety line of authority in another state
RCW 48.17.175(1). Somebody previously licensed for the same lines of authority in another state completes neither prelicensing education nor an examination. The exemption holds while that other license is current, or if the application arrives within 90 days of its cancellation and the prior state certifies good standing at that point, or the NAIC producer database shows it for the line being asked for.
Read at app.leg.wa.gov on 2026-08-16
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Route 3 Move to Washington 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 Surety line of authority there, and applying to become a Washington resident licensee within 90 days of establishing legal residence.
RCW 48.17.175(2). Somebody licensed as a producer in another state who moves here has 90 days from establishing legal residence to apply as a resident licensee under 48.17.090, written as a duty rather than an option. No prelicensing education or examination is required for a line of authority previously held in the prior state except where the commissioner determines otherwise by rule.
Read at app.leg.wa.gov on 2026-08-16
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No national seller sells a course for this license, though Washington does examine for it. WAC 284-17-124 requires the limited line surety paper and the Office's portion pass report names WA Surety among its eleven examinations; every Washington product sellers carry is for a major line or for the adjuster.