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

Minnesota licenses insurance producers through the Department of Commerce, and getting an insurance license follows a defined path: complete 20 hours of state-approved prelicensing education for each line of authority, pass the PSI licensing exam with at least 70% correct, submit fingerprints for a criminal background check, and apply online through Sircon with a $50 application fee, $50 per line of authority, and a $15 technology surcharge. Most applicants spread the process over a few weeks to a couple of months, and most of that time goes to coursework and exam study.

Minnesota insurance licensing at a glance

To become an insurance agent in Minnesota, you must hold an insurance producer license issued by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the agency that regulates insurance in the state instead of a stand-alone Department of Insurance. Anyone who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance needs the license, and "producer" is the statutory term for the role the market calls an agent or broker. Applicants must be at least 18 years old, per NIPR's Minnesota resident licensing page^[1], and because the state requires education and an exam rather than job history, you can qualify with no prior industry experience.

You choose the lines of authority your license will carry, and each major line carries its own education requirement and exam:

Prelicensing education in Minnesota

Minnesota requires 20 hours of Department of Commerce pre-approved prelicensing education for each major line of authority you want, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.36^[2] and section 60K.361^[3]. You must finish the coursework before you sit for the exam: the Commerce resident producer page^[4] states that testing before completing education forfeits your exam fee and invalidates your results even if you pass.

Course format is flexible, because the statute permits classroom instruction, verifiable self-study, or a mix of the two. Your education provider submits electronic certification of course completion to the state along with your application, and you must bring a paper completion certificate to the test center, because electronic copies are not accepted.

Several exemptions waive the education requirement: a two-year Minnesota vocational school degree in insurance, a four-year college degree in business with an insurance emphasis, and prior Minnesota licensure in the particular line. Professional designations also qualify, by line:

Taking the Minnesota licensing exam

PSI Services LLC administers Minnesota's insurance licensing exams under contract with the Department of Commerce, at computer testing centers and through remote proctoring, per the PSI Minnesota candidate information bulletin^[5]. Every producer exam costs $45, and each adjuster exam costs $25; the fee is nonrefundable and is forfeited if you do not test within 1 year of payment.

You need 70% correct to pass, your score appears on screen at the end, and a failed exam comes with a diagnostic report. Exams include 5 to 15 unscored experimental questions that count against your time. Time allowed per exam:

Spanish-language versions of all exams are offered with the same time limits.

Minnesota test centers operate in Blaine, Brainerd, Duluth, Eagan, Mankato, Rochester, Saint Paul, Willmar, and Woodbury. Schedule online through PSI's Minnesota insurance portal^[5] or by phone at 866-395-1006; request ADA accommodations by telephone. You can cancel and reschedule without forfeiting the fee if PSI receives your notice 2 days before the appointment. If you fail or miss the exam, you must reapply and remit all fees again before rescheduling, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.36^[2].

Examination results are valid for three years from the date of the examination, so you must apply for your license within that window.

Fingerprints and the background check

All resident producer and adjuster applicants must submit fingerprints for a criminal history record check run by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI. Electronic fingerprinting at a PSI test center costs $66.75, paid at the test site on exam day by VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover; manual fingerprinting at a police station requires mailing the card with a $35.00 check to the Department of Commerce, per the Commerce resident producer page^[4].

The background check authorization form expires one year after signing, so fingerprints taken more than a year before you apply must be retaken with a new fee. Because the FBI check can take several weeks, Commerce grants licenses to otherwise-eligible applicants before the results arrive and revokes the license if the results show the applicant did not qualify.

Re-fingerprinting rules depend on your history: individuals who missed a renewal deadline but reinstate before the reinstatement deadline do not need new prints, reactivating a fully lapsed license does, and licensees issued before the fingerprinting requirement began only need prints when adding a line of authority.

Applying for your Minnesota insurance license

After passing the exam, submit the producer license application online at sircon.com/minnesota, the state's licensing channel. The application fee is $50 plus $50 per line of authority. Individual producers also pay a technology surcharge of up to $40 under section 45.24 per initial license and renewal, unless adjusted by the commissioner, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.55^[6]. The NAIC producer licensing fee chart^[7] reports the current surcharge at $15 as of its December 2025 review, replacing an earlier $10 fee.

For a single line of authority, budget for the exam, fingerprinting, application, line, and surcharge fees listed above, plus the prelicensing course, which typically costs a few hundred dollars. Applicants need a valid business email address, and NIPR does not verify exam results before allowing submission, though the exam must be passed before the state approves the license. NIPR, the national licensing registry run by the NAIC, operates a LicenseHub that handles Minnesota applications and renewals, per the NIPR Minnesota state information page^[8].

How long does it take to get licensed

Minnesota publishes no fixed processing time, and most applicants finish the whole process in a few weeks to a couple of months. Exam results typically reach the state and NIPR within 3 to 5 business days, per NIPR's renewal guidance^[9], and application review generally runs several business days to a few weeks depending on background check status and volume. Budget your calendar time for the coursework and exam study, because those steps take the longest.

Life insurance license in Minnesota

A Minnesota life insurance license requires passing the 2-hour Life exam through PSI, and many new agents pursue a life and health insurance license together by taking the 3-hour combined Life, Accident & Health exam to earn both lines at once. Selling variable life and variable annuity products builds on the life line and generally also requires securities registration through FINRA, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics^[10].

Annuity sales carry an added training requirement. Because Minnesota's annuity best interest law (Minn. Stat. 72A.2032) took effect January 1, 2023, an agent who obtains the life line on or after January 1, 2023 and wants to sell annuities must complete a one-time four-credit annuity training course approved after July 1, 2022 before selling, per the Commerce annuity training page^[11].

Accident and health insurance license in Minnesota

The Accident & Health line covers health, disability, and related coverage, and its exam allows 2 hours. Before selling long-term care insurance, producers licensed for life or accident and health must complete an initial one-time training course of at least 8 hours, a requirement the NAIC education requirements chart^[12] documents under Minn. Stat. 60K.365, with ongoing refresher training thereafter. Insurance companies must verify that a producer completed the training before the producer may sell their long-term care products, and the Department of Commerce does not track the training itself, per the Commerce long-term care page^[13].

Property insurance license in Minnesota

The Property exam allows 2 hours, and candidates who want both property and casualty can take the 3-hour combined Property & Casualty exam. Property and casualty line courses must cover both personal lines and commercial lines, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.361^[3]. Producers licensed for property, casualty, or personal lines may sell flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program only after satisfying FEMA's minimum training and education requirements, which Minn. Stat. 60K.366 makes a condition of NFIP sales, per the Commerce flood insurance page^[14].

Casualty insurance license in Minnesota

The Casualty exam allows 2 hours, and Minnesota issues a joint Property and Casualty license only after you pass all parts of both examinations. The casualty line is also the gateway to surplus lines: a $500 surplus lines license requires holding, or concurrently applying for, a Minnesota Property & Casualty producer license, per the Commerce resident producer page^[4].

Personal lines insurance license in Minnesota

The Personal Lines exam allows 2 hours and covers insurance for individuals and families, such as auto and homeowners coverage, rather than commercial risks. The education proof must match the line: PSI does not accept a Property and Casualty proof of education for the Personal Lines exam, per the PSI candidate bulletin^[5].

Farm, variable, and limited lines licenses in Minnesota

Minnesota licenses several specialty lines with lighter requirements. The Farm Property & Liability line requires a 1-hour exam but no prelicensing education; the Variable Life & Variable Annuity line requires no education and no separate exam but requires holding, or concurrently applying for, an active Minnesota life producer license; and the limited lines of credit, travel, bail bonds, and title require no written examination and no prelicensing education, only the application, per Minnesota Statutes section 60K.36^[2].

Each line still carries the standard $50 license fee. A crop hail adjuster license is a separate limited license covering only hail damage to crops.

Insurance adjuster license in Minnesota

Minnesota licenses adjusters as independent, public, crop hail, and catastrophe adjusters, and resident independent and public adjusters must pass a PSI exam, submit fingerprints, and apply online at Sircon. Adjuster lines of authority are property and casualty, workers' compensation, and crop, with 1-hour exams; there are no prelicensing education requirements for adjusters, per the Commerce adjusters page^[15].

Public adjusters, resident and nonresident, and adjuster business entities must email an original surety bond in the amount of $10,000. A catastrophe adjuster license costs $20, stays active for 6 months, and may be extended for 6 more months if extended before the first term ends. Crop exam exemptions apply to applicants licensed in another state by adjuster examination, applicants establishing Minnesota residency who apply within 90 days, and those who completed the National Crop Insurance Services Crop Adjuster Proficiency Program or FCIC-required loss adjustment training. Nonresident adjusters from states that do not license adjusters use designated home state rules; Minnesota accepts designated home state applicants who are residents of Colorado, DC, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Getting appointed by an insurance company

You may obtain a Minnesota producer license before any insurance company appoints you, but an appointment is required to transact business under Minn. Stat. 60K.49, per the Commerce resident producer page^[4]. No sponsor is needed to sit for the exam or apply. Insurance companies submit appointments and terminations electronically to the state.

Continuing education and license renewal

A Minnesota producer license renews every two years on the last day of your birth month, and each renewal requires 24 hours of continuing education, including 3 hours of ethics, plus a $50 fee per line of authority. Individual licenses issued or renewed on or after August 1, 2010 expire on the last day of the producer's birth month and renew biennially, with each renewal valid 24 months, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.55^[6]; business entity licenses expire October 31 of the assigned renewal year. The Commerce license renewal page^[16] lets you renew no more than 90 days before expiration through Sircon, and it verifies CE compliance before approving a renewal.

Continuing education rules, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.56^[17] and the Commerce renewal page: no more than half of the hours may come from courses sponsored by, offered by, or affiliated with an insurance company or its agents; a licensee receives no credit for more than 8 hours in one day; and a course repeated in the same licensing period earns no credit. The commissioner may grant a waiver or extension of up to 90 days for good cause.

Missing the deadline carries consequences. Within 12 months of the renewal due date, an individual producer or adjuster may reinstate without re-examination by paying a penalty of twice the unpaid renewal fee, with CE compliance required first. A license expired more than 1 year means reapplying as new: retesting, new fingerprints, and a new application if an exam is required. Business entities cannot reinstate; a lapsed entity license requires a new application.

Nonresident licenses and moving to Minnesota

Minnesota must issue a nonresident producer license to an applicant who is currently licensed and in good standing in their home state, pays the standard fees, submits the home-state application or a completed Uniform Application, and whose home state awards nonresident licenses to Minnesota residents on the same basis, under Minnesota Statutes section 60K.39^[18]. The application is completed online at Sircon, and the applicant must appear on the NAIC Producer Database with an active resident license in good standing for each line requested, per the Commerce nonresident producer page^[19]. Minnesota grants nonresident licensees reciprocity for prelicensing education, exam, and CE requirements, per the NAIC education requirements chart^[12]. A nonresident license terminates automatically when the home-state license terminates.

Applicants moving to Minnesota from another state are exempt from Minnesota prelicensing education and the exam if they apply within 90 days of their former resident license going inactive, though fingerprints are still required. Minnesota no longer issues letters of clearance; your new home state confirms your license status through the national producer database. A nonresident producer who moves between states files a change of address with certification from the new resident state within 10 days, with no fee or application.

What insurance agents earn

Insurance sales agents earned a median annual wage of $62,280, or $29.94 per hour, as of May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics^[10]. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $37,330, the highest 10 percent earned more than $138,140, and employment is projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 43,100 openings per year, mostly from replacement needs. Agents work as captive agents for a single company or as independent agents representing several companies, and compensation is typically commission-based, which makes income vary widely by book of business and line sold.

Next steps

Start by choosing your lines of authority, because every later step keys off them. Then work through the sequence: enroll in a Commerce-approved prelicensing course from the state's approved-education list for each line you want; schedule your PSI exam online or at 866-395-1006 and bring your paper completion certificate and the fingerprint fee on exam day; and submit your application at sircon.com/minnesota within the three-year validity of your passing score. Once licensed, line up a carrier appointment before you transact business and calendar your birth-month renewal with its 24 CE hours.