How to get an insurance license in North Carolina

North Carolina licenses insurance agents line by line: you apply online through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR), pay the state fees, pass the Pearson VUE exam for each line of authority you request, and submit electronic fingerprints for a criminal background check. Pre-licensing education has not been required since October 1, 2025, and the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) advises applicants to allow 60 days for a submitted application. Because an insurance license in North Carolina covers only the lines you request, the first decision is which lines of authority to apply for.

Insurance license types in North Carolina

North Carolina issues one producer license with separate lines of authority, and each line defines the products you may sell. What other states issue as a single property and casualty license is split here into two lines, Property and Casualty, each with its own exam. The NCDOI resident licensing requirements chart^[1] lists every license type and whether a state exam is required.

North Carolina stopped issuing separate broker licenses on July 7, 2022, when Senate Bill 496 took effect, so the producer license now serves the broker role (NIPR resident licensing requirements^[2]).

Eligibility rules for a North Carolina insurance license

You must be at least 18 years old, hold a valid Social Security number, and pass a state and federal criminal background check. The state's resident licensing requirements chart^[1] sets minimum age 18 as the only eligibility rule for every license type, and it does not list any degree, work experience, or course requirement.

The Pearson VUE candidate handbook^[3] requires a Social Security number issued through the Social Security Administration on the NIPR application, and an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) cannot be accepted.

The application's screening questions cover criminal convictions, administrative proceedings, overdue monies, bankruptcy, delinquent taxes, fraud lawsuits, terminated agency contracts, and child support arrearage. A "yes" answer requires supporting documents uploaded to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse.

Apply online through NIPR

You must complete the license application and pay all state fees at www.nipr.com before you can schedule an exam, because Pearson VUE cannot reserve an exam until NIPR assigns you a National Producer Number (NPN) and sends an eligibility email. NIPR reserves the NPN when you submit the application.

Under the NCDOI resident fee schedule^[4], each producer line of authority carries a $50 registration fee, and each application carries one $44 processing fee no matter how many lines you request, for $94 total on a single-line application. The schedule adds a $5.60 transaction fee for each resident NIPR electronic application submission, and a second line on the same application adds $50 rather than another $44.

The application is valid for six months, and every requirement, including all exams for the lines you requested, must be completed inside that window. As the NCDOI licensing checklist^[5] states:

All license requirements must be completed within six months of the application date. Failure to complete the requirements within 6 months would result in forfeiture of all submitted fees and the applicant must reapply and pay all fees. NO REFUNDS.

No license is issued until you pass every exam for the lines requested on the application. A candidate who applied for Property and Casualty and passed only the Property exam waits for the license until the Casualty exam is also passed.

Fingerprints and the background check

Electronic fingerprints and a $38 fee are required with an initial producer application, and they are submitted for a state and federal criminal history check. The resident licensing requirements chart^[1] states that fingerprints are not required for the Adjuster, Hail Adjuster, or Motor Vehicle Damage Appraiser licenses, and that they are required again on re-licensing after a license lapses for one year.

After you submit the NIPR application, an email with the fingerprint form and instructions arrives within 24 to 48 hours. You print the fingerprint submission packet from the NIPR email link, have the prints taken electronically at local law enforcement, and upload the completed forms (pages 1-3) to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse. Fingerprint cards are not accepted, and local law enforcement may charge a separate fee, per the Pearson VUE handbook^[3].

A criminal history review can add 4 to 6 weeks of processing time, according to the NIPR resident licensing page^[2]. The same page advises waiting until the initial license issues and displays on the Producer Database before submitting another fingerprint-required application, or the $38 fee is charged again.

Pre-licensing education is no longer required

No pre-licensing education is required for any producer application submitted on or after October 1, 2025. Under House Bill 737, signed on July 1, 2025 as Session Law 2025-45, North Carolina repealed the statutes that had required at least 20 hours of instruction for each producer license and 10 hours for the Medicare Supplement / Long Term Care line, according to the NCDOI repeal announcement^[6].

NCDOI continues to publish a list of approved pre-licensing providers for anyone who wants structured study. RealEstateU offers online pre-licensing courses covering North Carolina's major lines, which suits applicants who want guided review before the state exam. Adjusters never had a pre-licensing requirement, per the Pearson VUE handbook^[3].

The state licensing exam with Pearson VUE

Each exam costs $45 per attempt and requires a passing scaled score of 70 on a 0-to-100 scale. You can schedule only after receiving the authorization email from Pearson VUE, which arrives within 24 to 48 hours of your NIPR submission and contains your reserved NPN, which serves as your candidate identification number.

Reservations are made online or by phone at (800) 274-0668 at least 24 hours before the exam date, and walk-in testing is not available. The fee is paid at reservation by card or voucher, not at the test center, and it is non-refundable; changes and cancellations need at least 48 hours' notice or the fee is forfeited.

Major-line exams are two-part tests that combine general and state-specific questions, and the two parts are scored together as one overall result. All questions are four-option multiple choice, and unscored pretest questions do not affect the score. A failing candidate sees a numeric score and must wait 24 hours before scheduling a retake, per the Pearson VUE handbook^[3]. Bring two forms of current signature identification, arrive 30 minutes early, and expect palm vein recognition screening at Pearson VUE-owned sites.

Pearson VUE publishes a free Insurance Licensing Examination Candidate Guide at www.pearsonvue.com or by calling 866-265-6329, and every exam question is drawn from the content outline in that guide, per NCDOI^[7].

Life insurance license in North Carolina

The Life line covers life products: whole, term, and universal life, burial expense, final expense, fraternal insurance, and fixed and indexed annuities, per the NCDOI producer coverage chart^[8]. Applicants commonly request it together with the Accident and Health or Sickness line, a pairing often called a life and health insurance license, but each line still needs its own exam. The Life line is also the prerequisite for the Variable Life and Variable Annuity line.

Accident and Health or Sickness license in North Carolina

The Accident and Health or Sickness line covers individual and group health, major medical, cancer, critical illness, disability, accidental death and dismemberment, and HMO products, per the coverage chart^[8]. It is the prerequisite for the Medicare Supplement / Long Term Care line. Holders of the Accident and Health line must also add the Medicare Supplement / Long Term Care line to sell Medicare or long term care policies, including Medicare Advantage plans.

Property license in North Carolina

The Property line covers damage to property: homeowners, dwelling damage, mobilehome, commercial building, business and personal property, crop, flood, pet insurance, inland marine, watercraft hull, and aviation hull, per the coverage chart^[8]. Together with the Casualty line, it is the prerequisite for the Surplus Lines license.

Casualty license in North Carolina

The Casualty line covers legal liability for injury and damage: personal and commercial auto, commercial liability, surety, workers compensation, personal and commercial umbrella, watercraft and aviation liability, malpractice, errors and omissions, and directors and officers, per the coverage chart^[8].

Personal Lines license in North Carolina

The Personal Lines line covers personal-only products: personal auto, homeowners, dwelling damage, mobile homeowners, personal liability, personal umbrella, personal inland marine such as jewelry and collectibles, and watercraft hull and liability, per the coverage chart^[8]. NIPR will not accept a Personal Lines application from anyone who already holds an active Property or Casualty line, because Personal Lines is included within both, per the NIPR resident licensing page^[2].

Variable Life and Variable Annuity license in North Carolina

The Variable Life and Variable Annuity line requires no state exam, but applicants must hold an active Life line of authority and supply a FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) CRD number, per the NIPR resident licensing page^[2]. The requirements chart^[1] adds that the applicant's securities licenses must be registered with the North Carolina Secretary of State, verified through FINRA BrokerCheck.

Medicare Supplement and Long Term Care license in North Carolina

The Medicare Supplement / Long Term Care line requires an active Accident and Health or Sickness line, or you may apply for both at the same time. The line covers Medicare supplements, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Plan D, long term care, partnership long term care, skilled nursing care, and home health care, per the coverage chart^[8].

Title and Surplus Lines licenses in North Carolina

The Title line requires the Title Agent exam, with one exception: attorneys who submit a Bar statement of good standing and confirm they will be compensated only by salary are exam-exempt, per the requirements chart^[1].

The Surplus Lines line lets you place property and casualty business directly with non-admitted carriers. Applicants must already hold the Property and Casualty lines, and membership in the North Carolina Surplus Lines Association is automatic with licensure, per the requirements chart^[1]. An agent who places surplus lines business through a wholesaler or broker does not need this license, per the coverage chart^[8].

Limited lines and no-exam licenses in North Carolina

Several licenses require no state exam at all, per the requirements chart^[1]: Variable Life and Variable Annuity, Viatical Settlement Broker, Motor Vehicle Damage Appraiser, Purchasing Group / Risk Retention Group Agent, Credit Agent, Pre-Need Life, Dental Services, Vision Services, Travel Accident & Baggage, and County Farms Mutual.

Pre-Need Life applicants must hold an active pre-need sales license issued by the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service. Dental Services and Vision Services licenses are needed to sell for Delta Dental of North Carolina. The Auto Physical Damage license, which does require an exam, is generally for employees of banks or loan companies who place physical damage coverage on autos when a borrower fails to provide it. A Viatical Settlement Broker application carries a $500 registration fee, for $544 total with processing, per the resident fee schedule^[4].

Adjuster licenses in North Carolina

North Carolina licenses three adjuster types, each with its own exam and no pre-licensing education requirement. An initial Adjuster application totals $169 in state fees, a Public Adjuster application totals $169, and a Hail Adjuster application totals $114, per the resident fee schedule^[4].

The general Adjuster license covers all property and casualty claims except ocean marine, including workers compensation. The Public Adjuster license covers first-party property claims only, where the adjuster represents the insured rather than an insurer; public adjuster applicants must show a $20,000 surety bond or an irrevocable letter of credit and submit fingerprints, per the NCDOI public adjuster FAQs^[9]. The Hail Adjuster license covers damage to crops caused by hail only, per the coverage chart^[8]. Federal crop adjusters who passed a proficiency exam approved by the federal Risk Management Agency are exempt from the state exam, per the requirements chart^[1].

After you pass: how the license issues

Pearson VUE posts your exam results to the pending license application within 48 to 72 hours, and once the application is approved you print the license yourself for free through SBS Connect. The North Carolina Licensing Office of Pearson VUE in Durham performs the initial review of all applications and can be reached at 866-265-6329; applications needing regulatory review are referred to NCDOI's Agent Services Division at 919-807-6800, per the NCDOI licensing page^[7].

NCDOI advises applicants to allow 60 days for a submitted application. The approval email includes instructions for a one-time free print of the license, and licenses can generally be printed 48 to 72 hours after that email, per the Pearson VUE handbook^[3].

Working as a licensed insurance agent in North Carolina

A license alone does not authorize you to sell. As the Pearson VUE handbook^[3] states:

However, an agent may not sell insurance until appointed by one or more insurance companies. The agent can sell only the products of those insurance companies for which he or she has been appointed and for which he or she is duly licensed.

All company appointments and terminations are processed electronically through NIPR under N.C. General Statutes 58-2-250, per the NCDOI appointments page^[10]. Agencies themselves are not appointed in North Carolina; a business entity takes its lines of authority from its affiliated agents and must designate at least one North Carolina-licensed agent as its Designated Responsible Licensed Person (DRLP).

Nonresident licenses and reciprocity

Nonresident fees mirror the resident fee schedule above, plus the same $5.60 transaction fee per electronic submission, per the NCDOI nonresident fee schedule^[11]. Many nonresidents are also exam-exempt.

An applicant previously licensed for the same lines of authority in their home state is not required to complete the examination, provided the license is active or the application arrives within 90 days after the previous license was cancelled in good standing, or the home state's producer database records show good standing, per the requirements chart^[1]. Adjusters previously licensed in another state are exam-exempt as well, except residents of New York, California, and Hawaii, who must pass the North Carolina exam; adjusters from states that do not license adjusters by examination may take the North Carolina exam and designate North Carolina as their home state, per the NIPR nonresident adjuster page^[12].

A producer who moves to North Carolina must apply for the resident license within 90 days after establishing legal residence, under G.S. 58-33-31. Nonresident producers have no North Carolina continuing education requirement; NCDOI verifies the home-state license through the National Producer Database and cancels the nonresident license if the resident license falls out of good standing.

Continuing education and renewal

Producer licenses with major lines of authority are perpetual: they do not expire and require no renewal filing, and you maintain them by completing continuing education (CE), per the NIPR renewal page^[13]. CE compliance dates vary by the licensee's month and year of birth, and the CE requirement includes mandatory ethics and flood hours, per the NCDOI continuing education page^[14]. Prometric administers North Carolina CE as the department's CE administrator.

A licensee who misses the CE compliance date has 4 months to complete the hours and pay a $75 reinstatement fee to Prometric. If the deadline passes, the license goes inactive, and the licensee must start over with new applications and pass the state exam for each line, per the NCDOI continuing education page^[14].

Adjuster licenses do renew: the Adjuster and Public Adjuster licenses renew annually by March 31 with a $109 fee, and the Surplus Lines license renews by August 31 with an $84 fee and requires an active Property producer license, per the NIPR renewal page^[13]. Resident adjusters, and nonresident adjusters who qualified by passing the North Carolina exam, must complete 24 hours of CE on a biennial basis, including the mandatory ethics and flood hours. A lapsed producer license can be reinstated for $84 if the application is submitted within one year of the lapse date, or within two years for Surplus Lines, per the resident fee schedule^[4].

How to look up an insurance license

North Carolina license records are open to the public, and you do not need to be the licensee to check them. NCDOI's Agent Services Division at 919-807-6800 can confirm details by phone.

Next steps

Start with the NCDOI producer coverage chart^[8] to match the products you want to sell with the lines of authority that authorize them. Then submit the application at www.nipr.com, pay the fees, and watch for the Pearson VUE authorization email. Study the content outline in the free Candidate Guide, pass each exam, print the license from SBS Connect, and secure a company appointment so you can begin selling.