How to get an insurance license in Kansas

To get an insurance license in Kansas, you must be at least 18 years old, pass a licensing exam for each line of authority you want to sell, and apply online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR), paying a $10 application fee, a $60 fingerprint background check fee, and the $57 or $64 exam fee. Kansas stands out because it requires no pre-licensing education: the Kansas Department of Insurance (KDOI) producer examinations page^[1] states that you can take the licensing exam without any course or study materials. Most applicants complete the entire process within a few weeks.

Kansas insurance license requirements

A Kansas resident insurance producer license requires that you be at least 18, pass the exam for every line of authority you apply for, pay the state fees, and clear a state and national criminal background check. Under K.S.A. 40-4905^[2], the Kansas insurance commissioner must find that each resident applicant is at least 18, has committed no act that is grounds for denial, has paid a nonrefundable application fee, and has passed the exam for each line applied for. Kansas statute calls the licensee an "insurance agent" under the Uniform Insurance Agents Licensing Act^[3]; the department and the industry use "producer" for the same license.

Kansas requires no pre-licensing education for any line of authority. The Kansas Department of Insurance producer examinations page^[1] puts it directly:

"Kansas does not have a pre-licensing education requirement."

You can sit for the exam without buying study materials or attending any class, and neither KDOI nor Pearson VUE endorses a particular school or prep product.

Other eligibility rules from the NIPR Kansas resident licensing page^[4]: your residence address must be in Kansas, you must hold no active resident license in another state, and you must hold no active Kansas nonresident license. Applicants whose license was revoked must wait two years before reapplying, and anyone who answers "Yes" to a background question must upload a written statement plus official court or regulatory documents to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse.

The commissioner sets the actual fees each year and publishes them in the Kansas Register by December 1, as K.S.A. 40-4905^[2] requires. The current state fees for an individual resident producer are:

Sources: KDOI producer licensing page^[5], NIPR Kansas resident fees^[4], and NIPR Kansas renewal fees^[6].

How to apply for a Kansas insurance license through NIPR

You apply by submitting the NAIC Uniform Application for an Individual Insurance Producer License online through NIPR, after obtaining a Certificate of Tax Clearance and being fingerprinted. NIPR verifies that you passed the exam before it accepts your application, but you may apply before or after you take the exam, and you may submit fingerprints before or after the application. The KDOI resident producer licensing page^[5] lists these required steps:

• Obtain a Certificate of Tax Clearance from the Kansas Department of Revenue and upload it to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse. KDOI will not process the application without it.
• Submit the NAIC Uniform Application online through NIPR and pay the $10 application fee and the $60 criminal background check fee by credit card or electronic check. Both are nonrefundable.
• Upload a color copy, front and back, of a valid Kansas driver's license or state ID to the Attachment Warehouse.
• Complete the electronic Fingerprint Waiver Agreement and FBI Privacy Act Statement online. KDOI does not accept paper waiver forms.

Applicants can check application status on the NIPR website with a transaction, payment, or order number, and states typically take 7 to 10 days to review applications^[7].

Fingerprints and the background check

Kansas requires every resident applicant to be fingerprinted for a state and national criminal history check, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) will not process your prints until your application, fingerprint waiver, and tax clearance are all on file with the state. The KDOI Fingerprint FAQ^[8] lists the fingerprinting options:

• Free livescan fingerprinting at the KDOI office in Topeka, open to all resident license applicants.
• Free fingerprinting, by agreement with the Department for Children and Families, at six locations: Topeka, Lenexa, Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, and Chanute. Bring a completed FP-1020 form.
• Digital fingerprinting at the KBI office in Topeka, or at certain local law enforcement agencies, where a fee may apply.
• Livescan service at Pearson VUE test centers in Overland Park, Topeka, and Wichita for $20, paid at reservation. It is not available at the Hays test center.
• Paper fingerprint cards printed to FD258 standard are still accepted and are mailed to KDOI using the originating agency identifier KS920161Z.

Background results usually reach KDOI within 5-10 business days, depending on the KBI's workload. KDOI keeps fingerprints on file for six months, and once prints are released to support an application they are considered used and cannot be applied to a future application. All licensing requirements must be completed within six months of the application date, per the KDOI resident initial application checklist^[9]. If the background check returns without reported convictions and all other requirements have been met, processing can take as few as two to three days, though convictions can add several days. Beginning July 1, applicants must report any expungement related to insurance fraud under K.S.A. 40-2,118 and answer that background question "Yes".

The Kansas insurance licensing exam

Pearson VUE administers every Kansas insurance licensing exam, the passing score for each exam is 70% as determined by KDOI, and you can register online at any time or by phone at 888-204-6255. Per the Pearson VUE Kansas candidate handbook^[10], reservations must be made at least 24 hours before the exam date and walk-ins are not available. Every exam includes unmarked pretest questions that do not count toward your score.

You may test at Pearson VUE centers in Hays, Overland Park, Topeka, or Wichita, or at any Pearson VUE test center in the United States, so you are not limited to Kansas locations. Spanish versions of the combined Life and Accident and Health exam and the combined Property and Casualty exam are offered in test centers only, and candidates can switch between Spanish and English during the exam. Candidates for whom English is a second language may request 1.5 times the standard testing time by submitting an ESL request form and a letter before scheduling.

Test-day rules and retake rules:

• Arrive 30 minutes before the appointment with two forms of current signature ID, one being a government-issued photo ID.
• Pay the exam fee at reservation by card or voucher; fees are not accepted at the test center.
• Change or cancel at least 48 hours before the appointment or the fee is forfeited.
• If you fail, you must wait 24 hours before scheduling a retest and at least 7 calendar days before retaking the exam. There is no limit on retakes.
• You receive a score report at the test center, and scores are reported electronically to NIPR and State Based Systems the next business day.
• Exam scores are valid for 2 years from the date of examination.

The major-line exams, with their formats from the Kansas exam content outlines effective March 1, 2025^[11], are:

On a combination exam, performance is reflected as one score, so you must pass the entire combined exam rather than each line separately.

How to prepare when no course is required

Preparation is entirely up to you, and the free content outlines Pearson VUE publishes are the natural starting point because they list every tested topic and the number of questions per topic. The content outlines^[11] give the Life exam its largest weights on types of policies (15) and provisions, riders, options, and exclusions (15), with application, underwriting, and delivery at 12, retirement and other concepts at 8, Kansas statutes common to all lines at 20, and life-specific statutes at 14. Each single-line exam pairs a general-principles portion with a Kansas statutes and regulations portion.

Life insurance license in Kansas

A Life license authorizes you to sell, solicit, and negotiate life insurance and annuity products, and you earn it by passing the Life Producer exam or the combined Life and Accident and Health exam. The exam topics track the content outline: types of life policies, policy provisions and riders, application and underwriting, and retirement concepts, tested alongside Kansas insurance statutes. Most candidates who want both life and health authority take the combined exam, which Pearson VUE scores as a single exam.

Two related authorities build on the Life license without a separate Kansas exam. Variable Life and Variable Annuity authority requires active FINRA registration, meaning a Series 6 or Series 7 designation, plus a Life license, according to the KDOI producer licensing page^[5] and the NIPR Kansas resident requirements^[4]. A Viatical Settlement Broker must hold a Life license but takes no separate exam.

Accident and health insurance license in Kansas

An Accident and Health or Sickness license covers health insurance products, and you qualify by passing the Accident and Health Producer exam or the combined Life and Accident and Health exam described above. The content outline^[11] gives its largest weights to types of health policies (16), provisions, clauses, and riders (15), and Kansas statutes common to all lines (20), with field underwriting at 8 and social insurance at 6. Producers who sell long-term care partnership policies must also meet the training requirement described in the renewal section below.

Property and Allied Lines license in Kansas

A Property and Allied Lines license covers insurance for damage to property, including dwelling, fire, and commercial property coverage, and you earn it by passing the Property and Allied Lines exam or the combined Property and Casualty exam. The property outline includes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as a tested policy type. Producers licensed in Property or Personal Lines who may sell flood insurance must complete a one-time NFIP course worth at least 3 continuing education hours, which counts within, not in addition to, the biennial CE requirement under KDOI Bulletin 2006-6^[12]. The combined exam covers both property and casualty in one sitting and grants both lines of authority.

Casualty and Allied Lines license in Kansas

A Casualty and Allied Lines license covers liability coverage for harm to others, including personal auto and bonds, and you earn it by passing the Casualty and Allied Lines exam or the combined Property and Casualty exam described above. The content outline^[11] gives its largest weights to types of policies and bonds (23), Kansas statutes common to all lines (20), and insurance terms (15). Candidates who test separately for property and casualty take two 90-minute sittings instead of the single 150-minute combined exam.

Personal Lines license in Kansas

A Personal Lines license covers property and casualty products sold to individuals and families for noncommercial purposes, packaged as one line instead of two, and you earn it by passing the Personal Lines Producer exam. KDOI positions this exam for candidates who do not want the full Property and Casualty lines of authority. The outline spans homeowners, dwelling, personal auto, umbrella, flood, earthquake, mobile home, watercraft, and windstorm coverage, with its heaviest weights on property and casualty terms and concepts (28) and policy provisions and contract law (24).

Limited lines licenses in Kansas

Limited lines restrict a licensee to a single product category, and most of them still require an exam. The KDOI limited lines page^[13] details the options, and the NIPR Kansas resident requirements^[4] confirm which lines require an exam:

• Crop: the Crop exam has 50 scored questions, and renewal requires 2 CE hours every two years.
• Title: the Title exam has 50 scored questions. Title agencies that handle escrow, settlement, or closing must file a surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit, ranging from $25,000 in counties of 20,000 or fewer residents to $100,000 in counties above 40,000.
• Pre-Need: applicants take the Life examination. There is no CE requirement, but renewal requires a biennial affirmation and company certification.
• Bail Bond: applicants pass the Kansas Laws and Regulations examination only, which has 50 scored questions.
• Self-Service Storage: no licensing exam, though business entities must designate a responsible licensed producer.
• Credit, Travel, and Portable Electronics: no exam per the NIPR listing. Credit-only, auto rental-only, and portable electronics-only agencies may not also hold a general producer business entity license.

Public adjuster license in Kansas

Kansas licenses only public adjusters, not independent or staff adjusters, and the license is limited to first-party claims under commercial lines insurance contracts under K.S.A. 40-5501 et seq., as the KDOI public adjusters page^[14] explains. Per Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2025-22, residential lines public adjusting is neither prohibited nor licensable in the state, so no license exists for that work.

To become a resident public adjuster you must be at least 18, obtain a Certificate of Tax Clearance, submit the NAIC Uniform Application for an Individual Adjuster online through NIPR, pay a $100 application fee plus the $60 fingerprinting fee, and pass the Kansas Public Adjusters Examination, which draws on the laws and regulations and commercial sections of the property and casualty material. Public adjusters submit physical fingerprint cards with the KBI fingerprint form by mail rather than the standard electronic producer path. Renewal is biennial, on the last day of the birth month in the odd or even year matching the birth year, with 18 CE hours including 3 ethics hours and a $100 renewal fee through NIPR. Nonresident public adjusters pay a $100 application fee and must hold a public adjuster license in their home state, which Kansas verifies through the producer database.

Nonresident insurance license in Kansas

Kansas issues a nonresident producer license to anyone currently licensed and in good standing in their home state, with no Kansas exam, for a $40 nonrefundable application fee filed online through NIPR. Under K.S.A. 40-4906^[15], the home state must award nonresident licenses to Kansas residents on the same basis, and the commissioner may verify your status through the NAIC producer database. The license mirrors the authority on your home-state license, so a producer holding life and health lines at home receives the same lines in Kansas. The NIPR Kansas nonresident page^[16] lists the follow-on fees: $40 biennial renewal on time, a renewal application plus $50 biennial fee plus a $100 failure-to-timely-renew fee if the date is missed, and a $140 reinstatement fee from day 91 through four years after expiration.

Moving to or from Kansas with an existing license

You cannot change your state of residency through NIPR directly. To move an existing license to Kansas, you complete the Change Resident State (Change Residency Status) form and submit it to KDOI per the form's instructions, as the KDOI change resident state instructions state; the department then emails detailed steps, which include submitting a resident application through NIPR with supporting documents. Applicants who hold a license from another state notify the department by email at kdoi.licensing@ks.gov after submitting the NIPR application. If you move away from Kansas, your license converts to a nonresident license, and you must obtain an active resident license in your new state within 30 days or the Kansas nonresident license is canceled, per the NIPR Kansas state information page^[17].

Renewal and continuing education in Kansas

Resident producers renew every two years through NIPR for a $4 fee, after completing 18 continuing education hours that include 3 hours of ethics. The renewal due date falls on the last day of your birth month, in an odd year if you were born in an odd-numbered year and an even year if you were born in an even-numbered year, and you may renew starting 90 days before the due date. Under K.S.A. 40-4903^[18] and the KDOI continuing education page^[19], CE requirements run 18 hours (3 ethics) for major lines, 2 hours for crop-only licensees, and 4 hours for title-only licensees. Pre-Need, Bail Bond, Self-Service Storage, and Travel licensees have no KDOI CE requirement, subject to their own conditions, such as the bail bond CE required under K.S.A. 22-2809b to act in Kansas judicial districts.

CE providers must report your completions electronically to State Based Systems, and KDOI will not accept certificates from producers or providers, so verify your hours are posted before renewing. Specialized training also applies to certain products. Producers marketing Long-Term Care Partnership policies must meet the training requirement under K.A.R. 40-4-37v. Kansas adopted the annuity Best Interest Standard effective January 1, 2024 under K.A.R. 40-1-53: producers selling annuities who trained before 2024 must complete a 1-hour add-on course or a new 4-hour course, and a substantially similar course from another state satisfies the requirement.

Missing the renewal deadline is costly. A missed due date triggers an automatic 90-day suspension and a $100 penalty, which the NIPR Kansas renewal page^[6] prices as a $104 late renewal fee ($4 renewal plus $100 penalty); CE-compliant producers get a 10-day penalty-free window after expiration, paying only the $4. On day 91 the license expires, all company appointments terminate automatically, and reinstatement through one year requires an initial application, the CE hours, and the $104 fee. From one to four years late, you reapply through NIPR with new fingerprints and tax clearance for $170 total ($10 application, $100 reapplication, $60 fingerprinting). More than four years late, the full initial licensing requirements apply, including the exam. KDOI also grants inactive status once, for a continuous period of up to 4 years, during which you are CE-exempt.

Company appointments and license lookup

Each insurance company you transact business for must appoint you through NIPR, and the company pays the appointment fee. Kansas charges $2 for each producer appointed by a Kansas-domiciled company and $5 for each producer appointed by a foreign-domiciled company, with appointments filed through NIPR within 30 working days, per the KDOI company appointment page^[20]. Effective July 1, 2025, under Kansas House Bill 2050, KDOI eliminated the annual appointment renewal fee, so appointments remain active until the company terminates them electronically or your license becomes inactive. Since July 1, 2021, companies appoint individual producers rather than business entities, except for credit-only, auto rental-only, and portable electronics-only agencies.

Once licensed, keep your record current. You must report changes of address, phone, or email within 30 days through the NIPR Contact Change Request, along with regulatory actions, for-cause terminations, and new convictions, filed through the NIPR Attachment Warehouse. License records live in national databases, so employers, carriers, and clients can verify your standing at any time.

What insurance agents earn

Insurance sales agents earned a median annual wage of $62,280 in May 2025, or $29.94 per hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics^[21]. The lowest 10% earned less than $37,330, while the highest 10% earned more than $138,140. The occupation held 572,600 jobs in 2025, with 63% of agents working in insurance agencies and brokerages, and employment is projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, producing about 43,100 openings per year.

Commission is the most common form of pay, especially for experienced agents. Captive agents work exclusively for one company, often with a salary and benefits, while independent agents sell policies from several companies and may be paid commission only. Agents who sell securities, such as variable annuities, must also hold FINRA registration.

Where to start

Start with the free Pearson VUE content outlines, because they tell you exactly what each exam tests and how many questions each topic carries. A practical sequence:

1. Download the Kansas exam content outlines^[11] for your line and register for the exam at the Pearson VUE website^[10] or by phone at 888-204-6255.
2. Request your Certificate of Tax Clearance from the Kansas Department of Revenue.
3. Get fingerprinted, using the free KDOI or Department for Children and Families locations where possible.
4. Submit the NAIC Uniform Application through NIPR^[7] with the tax clearance, your ID copy, and the $10 and $60 fees, and file the electronic fingerprint waiver.

For questions during the process, KDOI's licensing staff can be reached at kdoi.licensing@ks.gov or (785) 296-7862.