How to Get an Insurance License in Mississippi

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

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

Mississippi Insurance License

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

1. Figure Out Which Insurance License You’ll Need
2. Complete a Pre-Licensing Education Course
3. Pass the Relevant Mississippi Insurance License Exam(s)
4. 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 Mississippi:

• Life
• Accident & Health or Sickness
• Variable Life & Variable Annuity Products
• Property
• Casualty
• Personal Lines
• Credit Insurance (Limited Lines)
• Car Rental (Limited Lines)
• Crop Insurance (Limited Lines)
• Surety (Limited Lines)
• Industrial Fire (Limited Lines)
• Industrial LAH (Limited Lines)
• Title (Limited Lines) 

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 insurance 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 Mississippi Adjuster License overview.

Step 2: Complete a Mississippi Pre-Licensing Education Course

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

Mississippi requires all prospective insurance agents looking to get licensed in one of the major insurance lines of authority (e.g., Life, Accident and Health, Personal Lines, etc.) to complete 20 hours of pre-license training from an approved provider.

This can be in a classroom or a self-study setting (or a combination of the two).

You should note that those interested in bail insurance will be subjected to double the amount of hours (i.e., 40 hours instead of 20).

Note: 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 Mississippi  Insurance License Exam(s)

After completing your pre-licensing education course, you will need to take (and pass) the relevant Mississippi  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 insurance agent, you’ll need to pass the Life Producer exam, which has 60 scored questions (plus 10 pretest questions) and is two hours long.

In the state of Mississippi, all insurance exams are multiple-choice, administered by Pearson VUE, and come with a $52 fee.

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.

We found that the best approach is to study for one at a time, averaging between two to six weeks of study time per exam — depending on whether you are studying full time or part-time, as well as on how comfortable you are at taking proctored exams.

You can register your exam(s) through the Pearson VUE website. For more information, check out our Mississippi Insurance License Exam guide.

Step 4: Submit Your Insurance License Application

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

In Mississippi, you can do this electronically through Sircon or the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR).

This is the recommended method according to the Mississippi Insurance Department (MID) website, as it guarantees a higher “degree of accuracy and more efficient processing”.

Even so, you will also be able to submit your application via mail. You can do this by downloading and completing this Insurance Producer License Application form and submitting it directly to the Insurance Department at the following address:

P.O. BOX 79
JACKSON
MS 39205

Regardless of whether you file via mail or online, you’ll need to pay a $100 processing fee — which is called a privilege tax fee. Having said that, Sircon and NIPR can impose additional transaction fees; for example, NIPR has a $1 online fee for applications.

Be aware that if you’ve passed the licensing exams for multiple lines of authority, you’ll be required to submit an application (and pay a filing fee) for each of these.

Note: If you respond “Yes” to any of the questions that are related to your background, you’ll need to submit support documents electronically via NIPR’s Attachments Warehouse. For more information on the licensing process, you can contact the Insurance Department directly via email.

Step 5: Application Review

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

If everything on your application has been filled out correctly, your license should be issued within a few business days — 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 Mississippi  Insurance License

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

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 Mississippi , you’ll be required to complete either 12 or 24 hours (including three in ethics) of continuing education (CE) every two years depending on how long your license has been in effect. Licensed individuals who qualify can apply for a CE Waiver Affidavit via email (House Bill 1084).

Mississippi Insurance Department Contact Information

Mailing Address:
Licensing Division
P.O. Box 79
Jackson, Mississippi 39205

Physical Address:
1001 Woolfolk State Office Building
501 N. West St.
Jackson, MS 39201

Phone: (601) 359-3582

Fax: (601) 359-1951

Email: licensing@mid.ms.gov

Website: https://www.mid.ms.gov/licensing/licensing.aspx

License Search: Mississippi Insurance License Search and Lookup