Illinois
Illinois insurance licensing: requirements, renewal, and agency rules
Illinois licenses producers, public adjusters, and business entities through the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI), citing its rules under the Illinois Insurance Code (215 ILCS 5).
- Renewal cycle
- Every 2 years
- CE hours
- 24 hours (3 ethics)
- Application fee
- $215
- DOI phone
- 217-782-6366
Overview
Illinois licenses producers, public adjusters, and business entities through the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI), citing its rules under the Illinois Insurance Code (215 ILCS 5). Since July 1, 2023, IDOI no longer accepts paper applications or payments — every producer, renewal, and business-entity filing runs through NIPR, with no separate state portal. One quirk to know before you apply: an applicant can't hold both the Property/Casualty and Personal Lines lines of authority at once.
How to get licensed
Complete prelicensing education
Illinois requires 20 hours of prelicensing per line of authority (Life, Accident and Health, Fire and Property, Casualty, Personal Lines), with at least 7.5 of those hours completed in a classroom setting; the rest can be self-study. Motor Vehicle is the exception at 12.5 hours, 5 of them classroom.
Register for and pass your exams
Illinois uses Pearson VUE as its exam vendor. You register separately for a General exam and a State exam for each line of authority, and both must be passed within 90 days of each other.
Wait five days, then apply
The fastest path is to apply through InsureTrek — we file your Illinois application for the state's $215 fee, pulled from NIPR at the moment of application. IDOI asks you to wait five days after passing your exam before submitting, so applying too soon can cause processing delays.
Watch for your license
Illinois doesn't mail paper licenses or run its own applicant portal — approval and license status come back through NIPR. Verify an active license anytime with the NAIC State Based Systems lookup, searching Illinois by name or NPN.
Prelicensing education
Life: 20 hours — At least 7.5 hours must be classroom instruction; the remainder can be self-study. Accident and Health: 20 hours — At least 7.5 hours must be classroom instruction; the remainder can be self-study. Fire and Property: 20 hours — At least 7.5 hours must be classroom instruction; the remainder can be self-study. Casualty: 20 hours — At least 7.5 hours must be classroom instruction; the remainder can be self-study. Personal Lines: 20 hours — At least 7.5 hours must be classroom instruction; the remainder can be self-study. Motor Vehicle: 12.5 hours — At least 5 hours must be classroom instruction.
Exam
Vendor: Pearson VUE. You'll register separately for the General exam and the State exam for each line of authority. Both must be passed within 90 days of each other.
Fees
| Fee | Initial | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Resident individual producer license | $215 | $215 |
| Resident surplus lines producer license | $400 | $400 |
| Resident public adjuster license | $250 | $250 |
| Resident business entity license | $150 | — |
Fees as of 2026-08-21. Fees change without much notice. When you apply through InsureTrek, we always use the current fee at the moment of application. Sources: NIPR — Illinois Resident Licensing, Individual, NIPR — Illinois Resident Renewal, Individual
Renewal & CE
Renewal window — License expires on the last day of your birth month. Renew through InsureTrek starting 90 days before expiration.
Grace period: None — Illinois does not offer a late-renewal window through NIPR's renewal application. A lapsed license goes through reinstatement instead of renewal.
The 3 required ethics hours must be classroom or webinar format — self-study doesn't count. Complete your CE at least a month before your expiration date; it takes about 10 business days for a provider's reporting to show up on your record.
24 total CE hours per renewal term, including 3 ethics hours.
Home-state CE can satisfy Illinois's requirement for non-resident licensees whose home state has a reciprocal CE agreement with Illinois.
For agencies and non-residents
Agencies, appointments & DRLP
Illinois requires a separate Business Entity License, filed through InsureTrek for a $150 fee. Entities that broker insurance must carry a continuous bond of $2,500 or 5% of the prior year's brokered premium, whichever is greater, capped at $50,000 total.
Illinois doesn't publish a general just-in-time appointment rule or fee for standard resident producers. The one JIT-adjacent rule that is documented applies narrowly: for Limited Lines Producer and Temporary Producer license classes, if the sponsoring company doesn't file and get an appointment approved within 30 days of the license being issued, the license is automatically cancelled.
Managing DRLPs across states? See how InsureTrek handles it →
Non-residents
Illinois follows the NAIC reciprocity model: if your home state is in good standing and extends the same treatment to Illinois residents, Illinois waives duplicate exam and background requirements for comparable lines of authority. Non-residents apply the same way residents do — through InsureTrek, since IDOI has no separate application portal — for a $380 fee, higher than the $215 resident fee.
Apply for a non-resident Illinois license through InsureTrek, plus the state fee.
Official resources
- Illinois Department of Insurance — licensing
- DOI phone: 217-782-6366
Terms used on this page
Sources & disclaimer
This guide is informational and summarizes publicly available state and NIPR licensing rules as of 2026-08-21. Requirements change — verify current rules with the Illinois Department of Insurance or NIPR before you rely on anything here.
Official NIPR reseller · Applications filed through InsureTrek are submitted via NIPR.
- IDOI – Apply for a Business Entity License — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Apply for a Nonresident License — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Become a Resident Producer — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Contact Us — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Fee Schedule — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Producers — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Reinstate a Producer License — accessed 2026-08-19
- IDOI – Renew a Resident Producer License — accessed 2026-08-19
- NIPR – Illinois resident licensing, individual — accessed 2026-08-19
- NIPR – Illinois resident renewal, individual — accessed 2026-08-19
- Pearson VUE – Illinois insurance exams — accessed 2026-08-19
FAQs
How much does it cost to get an insurance license in Illinois?
IDOI's resident producer application fee is $215, paid through NIPR. Non-residents pay $380. On top of that, budget for Pearson VUE exam fees and prelicensing course costs, since IDOI doesn't publish exam pricing itself.
Do I need a prelicensing course before I can take the Illinois exam?
Yes. Illinois requires 20 hours of prelicensing per line of authority (7.5 hours classroom, the rest self-study), except Motor Vehicle at 12.5 hours with 5 in the classroom.
Where do I take the Illinois insurance licensing exam?
Illinois uses Pearson VUE. You'll register separately for a General exam and a State exam for each line of authority, and both need to be passed within 90 days of each other.
Can I apply for an Illinois insurance license on paper?
No. IDOI stopped accepting paper applications and payments on July 1, 2023. Every producer, renewal, and business-entity application now goes through NIPR.
How do I look up or verify an Illinois insurance license?
Use the NAIC State Based Systems lookup at external-lookup-web.prod.naic.org, select Illinois as the jurisdiction, and search by name or NPN.
How often do I renew my Illinois license, and how much CE do I need?
Illinois producer licenses run on a 2-year cycle expiring on the last day of your birth month. You'll need 24 CE hours per cycle, including 3 ethics hours completed in a classroom or webinar — self-study doesn't count toward ethics.
What happens if my Illinois license expires?
There's no late-renewal grace period through NIPR. A license expired less than a year is handled through reinstatement rather than renewal; one expired more than a year requires retaking prelicensing and the exam.
Can I get a non-resident Illinois license without retaking the exam?
Yes, if your home state is in good standing and extends the same reciprocal treatment to Illinois residents. You still apply and pay the $380 non-resident fee through InsureTrek.
See how InsureTrek handles Illinois licensing at scale.
Renewals, CE, and appointments tracked across every state your producers write in.