How to Get Your Texas Insurance License: Step-by-Step Guide

Getting a Texas insurance agent license comes down to five steps: reserving your exam, reserving your fingerprint appointment, passing the exam, getting fingerprinted, and applying through the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). Here's what each one involves.

Quick answer: Texas doesn't require any pre-licensing course hours. You pass a Pearson VUE exam (a scaled score of 70 to pass, $39–$49 depending on the line), get fingerprinted through IdentoGO, and apply through TDI with a $50 fee. You have 12 months after passing to apply, or you retake the exam.

Step 1: Confirm you're eligible

TDI issues a license to applicants who are at least 18, have passed the required exam, submit a complete application with the fee and a fingerprint receipt, and haven't committed an act for which a license can be denied under § 4005.101 of the Texas Insurance Code. If there's anything in your background that might come up, review TDI's agent licensing pages before you invest study time.

There's no cap on exam attempts in Texas, and you can reschedule a new attempt as soon as the next day.

Step 2: Study for your exam

Texas does not require pre-licensing education — you can reserve the exam without completing a course. But each Texas exam has a Texas-law section built from the Texas Insurance Code and TDI rules, and that's the part candidates most often underestimate. The rest is general insurance knowledge for your line.

Pearson VUE publishes a content outline for each exam — a General Lines exam has a general-knowledge section (on the order of 50 scored questions), a Texas-law section, and a handful of unscored pretest questions. A course built around that outline is the efficient way through it; our Texas courses mirror it lesson by lesson.

Step 3: Reserve and pass the Pearson VUE exam

Texas insurance exams are administered by Pearson VUE, at a test center or by online proctoring. Reserve at least 24 hours ahead and pay at reservation — payment isn't accepted at the test center. Fees by line:

Exam	Time	Fee
General Lines – Property & Casualty	150 min	$49
General Lines – Life, Accident & Health	150 min	$49
Life Agent (life only)	120 min	$39
Personal Lines Property & Casualty	120 min	$39

On exam day:

• Bring two forms of current signature ID — a primary government photo ID (driver's license, passport, military ID) plus a secondary ID with a signature (credit card, Social Security card). Pearson VUE does not honor ID grace periods.
• Report 30 minutes early.
• Silent, non-printing, non-alphabetic calculators are allowed; financial calculators are not.
• Each major-lines exam has a general section and a Texas section, but they're scored together as one exam, not section by section.
• The passing score is a scaled score of 70 on a 0–100 scale, set by TDI — not a raw percentage.

You leave the test center with your official score in hand. If you don't pass, you can schedule a new exam as soon as the next day; there's no attempt limit.

Step 4: Get fingerprinted through IdentoGO

Resident applicants must be fingerprinted through IdentoGO by IDEMIA and submit proof that the prints were sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Reserve the fingerprint appointment around the same time you reserve the exam — TDI's application page has the current IdentoGO service code.

Step 5: Apply through TDI

After you pass, apply electronically at sircon.com/texas or through NIPR, with the $50 fee per license type and your fingerprint receipt. You must submit a complete application within 12 months of passing the exam or you have to retake it.

What it actually costs

Item	Typical cost
Pearson VUE exam fee (per attempt)	$39–$49
Fingerprinting (IdentoGO)	~$40
License application fee (per license type)	$50
Pre-licensing course	Varies by provider

Fees are set by Pearson VUE, IdentoGO, and TDI and can change — confirm current amounts before you pay.

Keeping your license

Texas agent licenses are typically valid for two years. Renewing requires 24 hours of continuing education every two years — 3 of those hours in ethics, and at least half of the total completed in a classroom setting. TDI mails one renewal notice per license type about 90 days before expiration. See TDI's agent licensing page for the CE rules that apply to your license type.

Putting it together

Most candidates spend a couple of weeks studying, reserve the exam and fingerprint appointment once they're consistently passing practice exams, and — applying electronically through Sircon or NIPR — hold an active license within roughly two to four weeks of finishing their coursework.

Related reading

• How to Get Your Texas Life & Health Insurance License
• How Much Does It Cost to Get an Insurance License in Texas?
• What to Bring to Your Texas Insurance Exam at Pearson VUE