How to Get an Insurance License in Alabama

If you’re thinking about becoming an insurance agent in Alabama, the first step you’ll need to take in order to kickstart your career is to obtain an Alabama insurance license.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of how to become an insurance agent in Alabama, as well as what to do once you get licensed.

Alabama Insurance License

In order to get your Alabama insurance license, you’ll need to complete the following six steps:

1. Figure Out Which Insurance License You’ll Need
2. Complete a Pre-Licensing Education Course
3. Pass the Relevant Alabama Insurance License Exam(s)
4. Complete a Fingerprint and Background Check
5. Fulfill the Citizen Requirement
6. Submit Your Insurance License Application

Below we have explored each step in more detail.

Step 1: Decide Which Insurance Licenses You Need

The first step will be deciding what type of insurance policies you’ll want to sell — at least at the start of your career.

This is because the type of insurance policies you’re hoping to sell will dictate the type of license you’ll need. For example, you’d need a Property & Casualty (P&C) license to be able to sell auto, home, or business insurance.

Here’s a list of all the different types of insurance agent licenses that are available in the state of Alabama:

• Life Accident & Health or Sickness
• Variable Life and Variable Annuity
• Property
• Casualty
• Personal Lines
• Bail Bond
• Credit
• Crop
• Travel

While there are a large number of different licenses to choose from, the vast majority of insurance agents will either obtain a Property and Casualty (P&C) or a Life and Health license.

In fact, many agents actually opt to go for both of these licenses as it allows them to offer clients a much wider range of the most common insurance products.

However, if you already know you want to specialize in one particular type of policy, you’ll of course only have to focus on the specific license that’s relevant to this insurance type.

It’s worth noting at this point that if you’re looking to work as an insurance adjuster, you’ll need to obtain a separate license — which you can find more information about in our Alabama Adjuster License overview.

Step 2: Complete an Alabama Pre-Licensing Education Course

The next step you’ll want to take toward becoming a licensed insurance agent in Alabama is completing a pre-licensing education course.

The state of Alabama requires candidates applying for certain lines of authority — such as Life & Health and Property & Casualty — to complete a state-approved pre-licensing education course.

Due to the sheer number of pre-licensing education courses available, it’s normal to feel a little overwhelmed when deciding which one is right for you. To avoid this, we typically recommend making a decision based on the following factors:

• The course’s flexibility (e.g., does it allow flexible learning, does it require completing within a short time-window, etc.)
• The course’s price: This one is obvious; our only tip here is to not go too low, as from our experience you tend to get what you pay for when it comes to these
• The course’s reputation: How reliable is each provider? The last thing you want is insufficient and/or incomplete resources before your exam

If you want more information before getting started, you can also have a look at our in-depth overview of the five best pre-license education courses in 2024.

Step 3: Pass the Relevant Alabama Insurance License Exam(s)

After completing your pre-licensing education course, you will need to take (and pass) the relevant Alabama insurance license exam.

We say “relevant” because this will depend on the line you wish to specialize in; for example, if you’re planning to become a life and health insurance agent, you will need to pass the Life and Health Insurance exam — which consists of 150 scored questions.

This exam, like all insurance producer licensing examinations in Alabama, is administered by the University of Alabama — the designated exam vendor for the state.

To register for the exam, you will need to follow these steps on the University of Alabama’s website:

• Visit the homepage and click on the “Register Today” link
• On the next page, click on “Registration Link”
• Select your desired date and follow the prompts to complete your registration

The cost of your licensing exam will depend on the line(s) of authority that you are testing for:

• Producer Exam: $50
• Producer Combined Life and Health exam: $75
• Producer Combined Property and Casualty exam: $75
• Independent Adjuster Exam Fee: $75
• Title Agent Exam Fee: $75

Keep in mind that you can sit for more than one exam at a time (e.g., if you want to apply for both a P&C and a life and health insurance license).

Even so, we recommend avoiding this route; this is because passing your exam is hard enough as is, and there is arguably little to gain and a lot to lose with the added risk of confusing separate line material.

This is especially important in Alabama because if you fail an exam twice you will be required to wait 90 days before registering for another attempt, which increases to 180 days for candidates that fail four times.

Keep in mind that fees paid are non-refundable.For more information, you can have a look at our Alabama Insurance License Exam guide.

Step 4: Complete a Fingerprinting And Background Check

As part of the licensing process, you will be required to undergo a fingerprinting and background check in accordance with state law (Ala. Code § 27-7-4.4).

Please note that the Alabama Department of Insurance can only use fingerprints that have been processed through Fieldprint, which is the state’s designated vendor.

To proceed with your fingerprinting, you will need to schedule an appointment with Fieldprint Alabama and pay a $47.20 processing fee.

Keep in mind that by submitting your fingerprints, you authorize the Alabama Department of Insurance to obtain any and all criminal history information that relates to you from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) and/or the FBI.

Should you find any part of your Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) to be incomplete or inaccurate, you will have the right to submit an appeal by contacting the Records & Identification Division at (334) 353-4340.

It’s important to be aware your fingerprint results will remain valid for 30 days; if your application is not submitted to the Department of Insurance within this timeframe, you’ll need to be fingerprinted (and pay the required processing fee) again.

Note: Any misdemeanors or felonies may affect the outcome of your licensing efforts. If you’re worried about this, you can contact the Alabama Department of Insurance by phone or email for more guidance on this topic.

Step 5: Fulfill the Citizen Requirement

In accordance with the Beason-Hammon Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, Alabama requires verification of citizenship for all individual resident applicants before issuing an insurance license.

This means that you will need to submit proof of citizenship with the state; there are sixteen different identifiers that you can use while doing so, including your official driver’s license.

Note that your license will not be issued until this documentation is received. If the required information is not submitted within 10 days, your application will automatically be rejected.

Step 6: Submit Your Insurance License Application

With your exams and fingerprinting out of the way, you’ll be ready to actually apply for your license.

You will need to wait three to five business days after passing your exams before applying for your Insurance Producer license in order to ensure that your exam results have been properly processed.

To submit your application, you will need to visit the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) website and pay an $80 processing fee.

Note: Keep in mind that NIPR stores your first application on their server for 30 days. Since you cannot have two active applications simultaneously, you’ll need to contact NIPR and remove your previous application if you plan to apply for an additional line of authority within this period.

Step 7: Application Review

And that’s it! After satisfying all the other requirements and submitting a license application to the Alabama Department of Insurance all that’s left to do is wait.

If everything on your application has been filled out correctly, your license should be issued within two to five weeks — which is the amount of time it typically takes for a license application and background check to be reviewed.

It’s important to be aware that the issuance of your insurance license can take a bit longer than this if there are any items from your background check that need to be looked over. However, the state will likely get in touch with you to give some context if they run into any issues.

In any case, the state will send you an email regarding the status of your license once this review has been completed, so keep an eye out for that!

After Getting Your Alabama Insurance License

Once you’ve passed all your exams and your licensing application has been approved, you’ll be a qualified insurance producer in Alabama.

At this point, there are four main steps that we recommend new insurance agents to take:

1. Obtain Any Relevant Securities Licenses: If you’re planning on selling advanced life insurance products, you’ll need to pass the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam and obtain the relevant securities licenses (e.g., Series 6, 7, and 63).
2. Choose a Means of Selling: You’ll have to decide whether you’d prefer working as a captive agent employed by one company, or running your own business as an independent agent.
3. Develop Your Marketing Approach: To succeed as an insurance agent, you’ll need to adopt a marketing approach that’s effective for you. Finding and sticking to a niche, as well organizing all client appointments for the start of your week, are two great ways to do this.
4. Keep Your License Valid: In Alabama, you will be required to complete 24 hours of continuing education (CE) every two years in order to keep your insurance license active.

Alabama Department of Insurance Contact Information

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 303351
Montgomery, Alabama 36130

Phone: (334) 241-4126

Email: ProducerLicensing@insurance.alabama.gov

Fax: (334) 240-3282

Website: http://www.aldoi.gov/

License Search: Alabama Insurance License Search and Lookup