License requirements ***

Those applying for an insurance license must file a written application, completed and signed by the applicant, meet the required qualifications, and pay all applicable fees in advance to the Department. The application and fees due for the license may be paid on the Department's website, which is available from the home page of this course. The application will require applicants to provide their full name, age, Social Security number, residence address, business address, mailing address, contact phone numbers, and email address. Applicants must also provide proof that they have completed, or are in the process of completing, any required prelicensing education, although generally the education provider (Florida School of Insurance) will file your course completion on your behalf.

• the Health & Life (Including Annuities & Variable Contracts) license is 60 hours of approved prelicensing education;

• the requirement for the Life (Including Annuities & Variable Contracts) license is 30 hours of approved prelicensing education; and
• the requirement for the Health license is 40 hours of approved prelicensing education.

Background check

The Department will want to do a background check before they issue you a license, and even once licensed there are occasions when the Department may conduct another background check. Such background checks may include information about the applicant's/licensee's qualifications, residence, prospective place of business, character, experience, background and fitness for the license or an appointment. To conduct this background check prior to receiving a license, the Department will want your fingerprints submitted, and information about that is on the home page of this course. While the Department is conducting an investigation regarding your background, it may submit your fingerprints to the Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and will consider in their decision any local, state or federal criminal records from these agencies.

Credit or character report of license applicants

An insurer that is appointing a first-time licensee must, at the same time as the appointment or employment, conduct a full detailed credit and character report of the licensee and keep it on file thereafter, and will make such reports available to the Department upon request.

License Examination

Applicants for an agent, customer representative, or adjuster license must pass an examination that will test the applicant's knowledge of the kinds of insurance to be handled under the license applied for (life, health, general lines, etc.). The exam also covers the duties and responsibilities of a licensee and the appropriate Florida laws that correspond to the license applied for. The Department will issue a license number within 30 days of passing your exam, although it is often much quicker than that. Sometimes applicants take the state exam prior to submitting their license application to the state, and in such cases the state will issue a license number to the applicant after they have submitted their insurance application and it has been approved by the Department. A passing grade of 70% on the exam is valid for one year, and licenses will not be issued to those who take longer than one year to complete the insurance application after having passed the state exam.

An examination is not necessary for any of the following circumstances:

• renewal of appointment as an agent, unless the department determines that an examination is necessary to establish the competence or trustworthiness of the applicant
• limited license application for travel insurance, motor vehical rental insurance, credit insurance, in-transit and storage personal property insurance, or portable electronics insurance
• at the discretion of the department, an applicant for reinstatement of license or appointment as an agent whose license has been suspended within the four years before the date of application or written request for reinstatement
• an applicant for a temporary license
• an applicant for a license as a life or health agent who has a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation and has been in the insurance business within the past four years (an applicant may be required to take an exam regarding Florida insurance laws and regulations)
• an applicant who has a CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) designation and is applying for license as a general lines agent, personal lines agent, or all-lines adjuster
• an applicant for license as a general lines agent or all-lines adjuster who has received a degree in insurance from an accredited institution of higher learning which included at least 18 hours of insurance instruction in the areas of property, casualty, health and commercial insurance
• an applicant for license as a life agent who has received a degree in insurance from an accredited institution of higher learning with a minimum of nine hours of insurance instruction in the areas of life insurance, annuities, and variable insurance products
  
• an applicant applying for a nonresident license, or a license transfer from another state if the applicant has successfully completed the pre-licensing examination requirements in the applicant's previous home state, or meets the CLU requirement previously described

Retaking the examination****

An applicant who has taken an examination and failed to make a passing grade may retake the state exam with the applicable fees. Applicants may not take an examination for a license type more than five times in a 12-month period.