The West Virginia Surety Bail Bondsman license

The other way in carries West Virginia's real course requirement, and the Department writes it out: "There is a pre-licensing education requirement of 20 hours per each line of authority for property and casualty", from a provider West Virginia has approved, found through Sircon under Approved Providers Inquiry. The course completion certificate has to be carried to the test center in physical form and expires six months from the completion date, so failing the producer paper twice over six months means taking the course again. The producer examination needs 80% and has the same lifetime limit the adjuster examination has: the Department states it as "an eight-test limit per lifetime of the individual pursuant to W.Va. Code 33-12-5". Both West Virginia bail bond licenses take the same paper and it is new: the Department announced that from 2024-07-01 a candidate for a professional or surety bail bond license must pass the bail bond examination, 30 questions, 80% to pass, 90 minutes. The Department states in the same breath that there are no pre-licensing requirements for it and no continuing education for bail bonds. Every applicant is fingerprinted after passing, at initial application and again at every renewal, which is stricter than the adjuster rule where prints are not required on renewal. So the same license is reached one way with no education at all and the other with forty hours of it, and the difference is which producer line the applicant chooses to hold. The licensing is younger than the trade. House Bill 2758 of 2021 required the Insurance Commissioner to regulate professional bondsmen and, after 2022-07-01, required every bondsman to be licensed by the Offices of the Insurance Commissioner; the rule that implements it, W. Va. Code R. 114-103, took its current form on 2024-04-01. Before that West Virginia's bail bondsmen answered to the courts under W. Va. Code 51-10 alone.

Read at the Department on 2026-08-19

This is the cheaper of the two ways in and the Department sets it out as a choice. The surety line of authority needs no examination of its own and no pre-licensing education, and it can be applied for through NIPR. Both West Virginia bail bond licenses take the same paper and it is new: the Department announced that from 2024-07-01 a candidate for a professional or surety bail bond license must pass the bail bond examination, 30 questions, 80% to pass, 90 minutes. The Department states in the same breath that there are no pre-licensing requirements for it and no continuing education for bail bonds. Every applicant is fingerprinted after passing, at initial application and again at every renewal, which is stricter than the adjuster rule where prints are not required on renewal. The insurer’s side is not optional: a surety bondsman is appointed by the insurer to execute or countersign bonds through a qualified power of attorney, and the application must carry that power of attorney and a letter of appointment. The licensing is younger than the trade. House Bill 2758 of 2021 required the Insurance Commissioner to regulate professional bondsmen and, after 2022-07-01, required every bondsman to be licensed by the Offices of the Insurance Commissioner; the rule that implements it, W. Va. Code R. 114-103, took its current form on 2024-04-01. Before that West Virginia's bail bondsmen answered to the courts under W. Va. Code 51-10 alone.

Read at the Department on 2026-08-19