United States
Hong KongThe licenses Texas agents add next
Property and casualty is the usual next one, at a 58.3% first-time pass rate, or personal lines at 66.0% for a narrower version. Surplus lines and managing general agent both require an existing license first. Each addition is its own application, USD 50 fee and examination.
Adding a license in Texas is cheap and repetitive: another application, another USD 50, another examination. Nothing carries over except the fingerprints already on file with TDI.
So the question is not whether you can, it is which one is worth an evening a week for two months. TDI's own examination report is the most useful guide, because it shows what each paper actually costs a first-time candidate.
What each addition looks like
| License | First-time pass, FY2025 | Entry condition | Worth it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Lines - Property and Casualty | 58.3% | None | You want to serve a household completely |
| Personal Lines Property and Casualty | 66.0% | None | You only want auto and homeowners |
| Limited Lines | 68.8% | None | You already hold this license and mostly do not need it |
| Surplus Lines | 76.6% | Hold a P and C or MGA license first | You place hard-to-place commercial risk |
| Managing General Agent | 73.7% | A different role entirely | You are running an agency operation |
| Adjuster - All Lines | 40.7% | None, and a course can exempt you | You want to handle claims instead |
The limited lines row is a trap worth naming. Section 4054.053 says a General Lines life, accident and health license holder may write the contracts described by the limited, funeral prearrangement and small-face-amount subchapters without obtaining an additional license. You already have those. Do not pay for them twice.
Property and casualty is the real second license
It is the one that changes what you can do for a household. Life and health covers the person. Property and casualty covers the car, the house and the liability, and a family that buys all of it from one agent stays with that agent.
It is also a genuinely different body of knowledge. There is almost no overlap in the products, and the general insurance principles you learned for this exam carry over less than you would hope. Its first-time pass rate of 58.3% sits within a point of this one, which tells you the difficulty is comparable and the content is not.
Personal lines is the smaller version, covering personal rather than commercial risk, at 66.0%. If your business is families rather than businesses it may be all you need, and it is the easier sitting.
The securities registration
Not a Texas insurance license at all, and for many life agents the more consequential addition. Variable annuities and variable life are securities as well as insurance contracts, and no insurance license authorizes the securities half.
The Insurance Code acknowledges this itself, defining a registered contract as a variable annuity contract or variable life insurance policy subject to prospectus delivery requirements under federal securities law. We hold nothing on federal securities registration and are not going to name an examination we have not sourced. Selling variable products needs a securities license sets out the boundary.
The additions that are not licenses
Section 4004.252 bars an agent from selling a Medicare-related product without eight hours of professional training related to it, and section 4004.253 adds four hours of Medicare-specific continuing education each licensing period for agents who sell them. Subchapter E imposes its own annuity training requirement. Neither is a license and both open a product line, and both count toward your 24 hours.
That makes them the cheapest expansion available to you, in hours you were going to spend anyway. Moving from health into Medicare sales covers what else changes when you go there.
One administrative side effect
Adding a license changes your expiration date. Section 4003.001(c) says if you hold more than one license, all of them expire on the earliest expiration date among the licenses held, and thereafter they expire together.
That is a convenience once it has settled and a nuisance the first time, because the new license can shorten the current term of the one you already have. Check your dates on Sircon after the second license issues rather than assuming the old one still runs to your birthday.
What it does not change is your education bill. Section 4004.053 caps it: hold more than one license for which continuing education is required and you still complete no more than 24 hours in total for all of them during the period. A second license costs you an examination and a fee, not another 24 hours.
The opinion
Do not add a license in your first year. Add the Medicare training instead, because it costs hours you already owe, opens a product line that renews annually, and does not require a second examination at a time when you are still learning to sell the first one.
Property and casualty is a year-two or year-three decision, and the right trigger is customers asking you for it rather than a sense that more licenses is better. An agent with two licenses and no book is worse off than one with a book.
The concession: we hold the content outline for this examination only. Everything above about the other papers comes from TDI's report and the handbook rather than from having studied those syllabuses, so we can tell you how many people pass and not how hard the material is.
Common questions
What license should a Texas life and health agent add next?
General Lines property and casualty is the usual one, at a 58.3% first-time pass rate in fiscal year 2025, or personal lines at 66.0% for a narrower version covering auto and homeowners. Each is a separate application, USD 50 fee and examination.
Do you need a limited lines license as well?
No. Section 4054.053 lets a General Lines life, accident and health license holder write the limited, funeral prearrangement and small-face-amount contracts without an additional license. Those lines are already covered by the license you hold.
What does a surplus lines license require?
An existing license first. The handbook says a surplus lines applicant must hold either a General Lines property and casualty license or a Managing General Agent license, plus the record-keeping facilities and the knowledge to judge whether a risk is eligible for an unauthorized insurer.
Does adding a license change your renewal date?
Yes. Section 4003.001(c) says that if you hold more than one license, all of them expire on the earliest expiration date among them, and thereafter they expire together. Check your dates on Sircon after a second license issues.
Is Medicare certification a separate license?
No. Section 4004.252 requires eight hours of professional training before you sell a Medicare-related product and section 4004.253 adds four hours of Medicare continuing education a licensing period, but neither is a separate license. Both count toward your 24 hours.