How to get an insurance license in Maryland: exams, fees, and requirements

Maryland issues insurance producer licenses through the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA), and the path has two required steps: pass the licensing exam for your line of authority with Prometric, then apply online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR). Since October 1, 2024, the state has required no prelicensing course and no industry experience, so the exam is the only gate between you and an insurance license. A new resident producer pays $65 for the exam and $54 for the license application, and most applicants finish the entire process within a few weeks.

When Maryland law requires an insurance producer license

Under Md. Code, Insurance § 10-103^[1], you must hold a producer license before you act as an insurance producer in Maryland, plus an appointment from an insurer when you act for one. "Producer" is the statutory name for what people commonly call an insurance agent, and the two terms describe the same license. The statute's exemptions are narrow: insurers themselves, officers and employees whose work is only indirectly related to sales, and a handful of similar non-sales roles.

The MIA producer licensing page^[2] issues producer licenses in six major lines of authority: Life, Health, Property, Casualty, Variable Life and Annuity Products, and Personal Lines. A resident applicant for a major line must be at least 18 years old, pass the Maryland exam for each line requested, and submit the NAIC Uniform Individual Application. Passing an exam does not guarantee a license, and the Prometric licensing bulletin^[3] states that candidates who test unnecessarily or are found unqualified do not get the exam fee refunded.

Maryland requires no prelicensing education

Maryland requires zero prelicensing education hours for every exam-required line. MIA Bulletin 24-19^[4], issued July 24, 2024, announced that House Bill 265 and Senate Bill 336 (Chapters 874 and 873 of 2024) repealed the Commissioner-approved program of study and the minimum experience requirement effective October 1, 2024. Prometric stopped accepting new prelicensing course provider applications on August 1, 2024, and the roster of active providers and courses went inactive on September 30, 2024.

The Administration and Prometric no longer publish a list of approved courses, so preparation is entirely up to you. Prometric posts a free content outline for every exam, in English and in Spanish, listing the topics and question counts, and it is the sensible starting point for self-study. Commercial prep courses remain legal and common; they are simply optional.

The Maryland insurance licensing exam

Prometric administers every Maryland insurance exam, at its test centers and online. Register and schedule at the Prometric Maryland exam page^[5] or by phone at 800-610-1174, and create a candidate profile first: your date of birth and Social Security number must be accurate, or you will be unable to apply for the license after you pass. Each attempt costs $65 under the Prometric Licensing Information Bulletin effective October 1, 2026^[3]; the fee was $62 before that bulletin took effect. You must score 70% or higher to pass, and Prometric reports your result on screen when you finish. If you fail, Md. Code, Insurance § 10-108^[6] requires a wait of at least 4 days before you may retake the same exam, and exam fees are neither refundable nor transferable.

A few exam-day rules from the bulletin: reschedule or cancel at least 24 hours before your appointment or you forfeit the fee; arrive at least 30 minutes early with one non-expired, government-issued photo ID that carries your signature; arriving more than 30 minutes late also forfeits the fee. Spanish-language versions of every exam run under codes 2043 through 2053. Candidates needing ADA accommodations must request them 30 days in advance, and candidates whose first language is not English may be granted time-and-a-half (150%) with an authorization. Veterans may be reimbursed up to $2,000 per exam under the GI Bill, though application fees and prep courses are not covered. Exam scores stay valid for 12 months, according to NIPR's Maryland state information page^[7].

Exam formats by line

Every exam adds 10 unscored experimental questions to the scored count. Question counts and time limits come from Prometric's Maryland exam content outlines^[8], including the combo exam outlines^[9]; the single-line Property and Casualty time limits appear in each exam's own outline on the Prometric Maryland exam page.

Life insurance license in Maryland

A life insurance license authorizes you to sell life insurance and annuities, and it is the foundation for two of the state's advanced credentials. You earn the line by passing the Life Producer exam (Prometric code 2027), whose content spans insurance regulation, life insurance basics, policies, provisions and riders, annuities, and federal tax rules, per the Prometric content outline^[8]. The Life line is the prerequisite for the Variable Life and Annuity Products line, and an active Life license is also required for a Viatical Settlement Broker license, which carries a $250 initial fee under the MIA fee schedule^[10].

Health insurance license in Maryland

Maryland labels its health line "Accident and Health or Sickness," and the license covers health, disability, and long-term care products. You earn it by passing the Accident and Health or Sickness Producer exam (Prometric code 2024). Candidates who want a life and health insurance license at once can take the combined Life and Accident and Health or Sickness Producer Combo exam (code 2030), which qualifies both lines in a single sitting. Health-licensed producers who sell long-term care, LTC Partnership, or Medicare-related products carry extra training obligations, described under continuing education below.

Property insurance license in Maryland

The Property line covers first-party coverage such as dwelling, homeowners, and commercial property policies. Single-line candidates pass the Property Producer exam (Prometric code 2031). Because property and casualty authority usually go together, Prometric also offers the Property and Casualty Producer Combo exam (code 2032), and most candidates planning to sell any property insurance take the combo rather than the single-line exam. Property authority paired with casualty is also the prerequisite for a Surplus Lines Broker license.

Casualty insurance license in Maryland

The Casualty line covers liability and related coverages for individuals and businesses, including auto liability and workers compensation. Single-line candidates pass the Casualty Producer exam (Prometric code 2026). Casualty authority pairs naturally with property authority, and the combined Property and Casualty Producer Combo exam (code 2032) is the standard route to a property and casualty license in Maryland. Casualty sellers who handle bail bonds must complete bail-bond-specific continuing education each renewal period.

Personal lines insurance license in Maryland

A personal lines license authorizes you to sell personal, not commercial, coverage such as auto and homeowners insurance. You earn it by passing the Personal Lines Producer exam (Prometric code 2029). Personal lines authority suits agents who plan to work with households rather than businesses, and it follows the same renewal rules as the other major lines.

Variable life and annuity products license in Maryland

The Variable Life and Annuity Products line requires no Maryland insurance exam, because federal securities exams screen the applicant instead. According to the MIA producer licensing page^[2], you must hold the underlying Life license, have passed a FINRA Series 6, 7, or 63 exam plus the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, and hold an active FINRA registration. NIPR defers these applications for state review and requires a FINRA CRD number, per the NIPR resident licensing requirements page^[11].

How to apply for your Maryland producer license

After you pass, submit the NAIC Uniform Individual Application online through NIPR^[12] with the $54 fee set by Insurance Article § 2-112, or mail a paper application to the MIA at 200 Saint Paul Place, Suite 2700, Baltimore, MD 21202. NIPR verifies your exam pass before it accepts the application. First-time applicants supply a Social Security number; previously licensed applicants supply a license number or National Producer Number. The MIA verifies complete applications in 1 to 7 business days and issues a final determination in 7 to 10 business days, and incomplete applications pending more than 120 days may be rejected.

Answer "yes" to any background question and you must upload a written statement plus court documents to NIPR's Attachments Warehouse; website printouts are not acceptable. Maryland does not fingerprint routine producer applicants. Fingerprints apply only to people who must obtain written consent to work in insurance under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1033 and 1034 because of a criminal conviction, and those applicants pay $30 for the state and FBI background check that COMAR 31.03.12.04^[13] requires, as the NAIC fingerprint requirements chart^[14] documents.

If you already hold a Maryland license and pass an exam to add a line, do not file a new application: the MIA updates your existing license within 2 to 3 business days. Producers must notify the Administration of an address change within 30 days. Questions go to producer licensing at 1-888-204-6198 or producerlicensing.mia@maryland.gov.

Getting appointed by an insurer

A license alone does not let you bind coverage for an insurer. Under Md. Code, Insurance § 10-118^[15], a producer may not act on behalf of an insurer without written documentation of an appointment, and the insurer must enter your name, license number, and appointment date in its producer register within 30 days. A narrow exception lets an insurer initially accept a life, health, or annuity application from an unappointed producer, provided the insurer either appoints the producer or rejects the application within 30 days. Maryland does not require insurers to report appointments to the MIA, except terminations for cause, per the MIA license types page^[16].

Nonresident licenses and reciprocity

Maryland issues nonresident producer licenses on a reciprocal basis. You must hold an active, equivalent producer license in good standing in your home state, and your home state must award nonresident licenses to Maryland residents on the same terms, according to the MIA producer licensing page^[2]. The application fee is $54 through NIPR's nonresident process^[17], and your name, license number, state of residence, and Tax ID must match your home-state record in the Producer Database. Residents of states that do not license producers at all may still qualify by meeting Maryland's resident requirements.

Nonresidents do not complete Maryland continuing education when their home state's CE requirement is satisfied and the home state extends the same reciprocity to Maryland residents, under Md. Code, Insurance § 10-116^[18]. If the home state is non-reciprocal for the line, or has no CE requirement at all, the nonresident completes Maryland's hours instead.

Renewing your license and continuing education

Individual producer licenses run 2 years and expire on the last day of the producer's birth month, under Md. Code, Insurance § 10-115^[19]. The renewal fee is $69, which bundles a $54 renewal charge and a $15 fraud prevention fee, and the renewal window opens 90 days before expiration. If a license expires, every appointment the producer holds terminates that same day.

Maryland producers complete 24 hours of continuing education (CE) per renewal period, including at least 3 hours of ethics, which is the statutory ceiling under § 10-116^[18]. For a combined life and health license or a combined property and casualty license, the MIA CE requirements^[20] split the hours 6 and 6 across the two lines, 9 in either line, and 3 in ethics. The statutory deadline is 15 days before the license expiration date, effective January 1, 2020 under Bulletin 19-19^[21]. Because providers have up to 10 days to report course completions, the MIA advises finishing your hours about 30 days early. Prometric is the CE vendor, and you can check your transcript at sircon.com or 1-800-324-4592.

Specialized CE rules apply by product: 2 hours in flood for producers who sell flood insurance, 4 hours in bail bonds for casualty producers who handle them, 2 hours in long-term care, an 8-hour initial LTC Partnership course or a 4-hour refresher every two years, and a one-time 4-hour annuity course. Two grandfathered waivers remain, with no new qualifiers accepted: producers licensed 25 or more consecutive years as of October 1, 2008 need only 8 hours, and producers age 70 or older as of April 30, 2013 are fully exempt.

Late renewal is allowed for up to 1 year after expiration, with a $100 reinstatement fee added to the renewal fee, a $169 total for producers per the MIA fee schedule^[10]. After that year, you reapply as a new applicant and meet every initial requirement, including the exam.

Title insurance producer license in Maryland

Title insurance is a separate Maryland license class, not a producer line of authority. Resident applicants pass the Maryland Title Producer exam (Prometric code 2025), submit the NAIC Uniform Application with a $54 fee, and post a $150,000 surety bond or letter of credit, though an independent contractor may file the TIPIC waiver form in place of the bond, per the MIA title page^[22]. Business entities post the same $150,000 bond plus a $150,000 blanket fidelity bond, which can be waived by affidavit when criteria are met. Title applications move slower than producer applications: the MIA estimates 14 days for verification and 60 days for a determination. Title-only producers complete 16 CE hours, 13 in title plus 3 in ethics, and Maryland attorneys who hold only the Title line are exempt from CE.

Public adjuster license in Maryland

Maryland's adjuster licensing is unusual: the state regulates one adjuster role, the public adjuster, and leaves the staff adjusters that insurers employ, along with independent adjusters, unlicensed. Residents pass the Prometric Public Adjuster exam, and the license carries a $50 initial fee, a $65 renewal fee, and a $165 late-renewal reinstatement fee, per the MIA fee schedule^[10] and the MIA public adjuster page^[23]. Resident public adjusters complete 24 hours of CE, 21 in Public Adjuster or Property/Casualty course categories plus 3 in ethics, no later than 30 days before expiration. Nonresident public adjusters pay the same $50 initial fee under NIPR's nonresident adjuster process^[24].

Adviser, surplus lines, and limited lines licenses

Maryland also licenses insurance advisers, people who examine policies and contracts and give advice for a fee rather than sell coverage. Adviser candidates pass the Adviser Life and Accident and Health exam (code 2028) or the Adviser Property and Casualty exam (code 2033), post a $1,000 bond, and pay a $200 initial fee, a $215 renewal fee, or a $315 reinstatement fee, per the MIA fee schedule^[10] and the NIPR resident licensing page^[11].

The Surplus Lines Broker license requires an active producer license with both Property and Casualty lines plus a $10,000 surety bond. Its initial fee is $100 when the producer license expires within one year and $200 otherwise, with a $200 renewal fee. Limited lines licenses, including Credit, Travel, Portable Electronics, Self-Service Storage, and Motor Club Representative, cost $54 initially; Credit and Travel require no exam and carry no CE obligation. A temporary producer license, issued when a licensee dies or becomes disabled, costs $27.

What it costs to get an insurance license in Maryland

A new resident producer pays only two required government fees, the exam fee and the license application fee, before any optional prep course. The full fee schedule from the MIA licensing fees page^[10]:

Renewal fees include a $15 fraud prevention fee, and all license fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. The surplus lines initial fee is $100 when your producer license expires within one year and $200 when it expires later.

Next steps

Choose your line of authority first, because it determines the exam. Download the free content outline for that exam from the Prometric Maryland exam page^[5] and build your study plan around its topic weights. When practice scores are comfortable, create your Prometric candidate profile with your exact date of birth and Social Security number, schedule the exam, and bring one government photo ID on test day. Pass, and you can file the NAIC Uniform Individual Application through NIPR the same day, then line up your first insurer appointment. Finally, mark your calendar for the CE deadline, 15 days before the last day of your birth month two years out, so the license never lapses.