United States
Hong KongRenewing a Texas insurance license
An individual license expires on your birthday every second year, in even years if it was issued or renewed in an even year and odd years if odd. TDI notifies you 30 days out. Renew through Sircon, Texas Online or NIPR, with 24 hours of continuing education completed before the expiration date.
Chapter 4003 of the Insurance Code is short, and it is the chapter that decides when your license stops working. Worth reading once now rather than in a panic later.
When your license expires
Section 4003.001 sets it out. For an individual, the license expires on your birthday in even-numbered years if it was issued or renewed in an even-numbered year, and on your birthday in odd-numbered years if it was issued or renewed in an odd-numbered one. For anything that is not an individual, it is the second anniversary of issue or renewal.
So the cycle is two years and the date is your own birthday, which is the most memorable expiration date any regulator could have chosen and is still somehow missed constantly.
- Governing chapter
- Texas Insurance Code chapter 4003
- Cycle
- Two years
- Expiry date
- Your birthday, in the matching odd or even year
- Notice from TDI
- Not later than the 30th day before expiry
- Renew through
- Sircon, Texas Online or NIPR, by license type
- Continuing education
- 24 hours, three of them ethics, completed before the expiration date
- Renewal fee
- Non-refundable. We do not publish the amount
- Multiple licenses
- All expire on the earliest expiration date held
Section 4003.001(c) says if you hold more than one license, all of them expire on the earliest expiration date among them, and thereafter they all expire together. That is a convenience rather than a trap, and it means adding a second license can shorten the first one's current term.
How the renewal works
Section 4003.003 requires the department to send written notice of impending expiration to your last known mailing address not later than the 30th day before the date the license expires. Keep your address current with TDI. The notice is a courtesy the statute mandates, not a condition of the deadline: missing the letter does not move the date.
Section 4003.004 sets the renewal procedure, and section 4003.005 makes the renewal fee non-refundable. The handbook says renewal can go through Texas Online for some license types, through Sircon, or through the National Insurance Producer Registry for some license types.
There is one provision worth knowing if TDI is slow. Section 4003.006 says the original license of a person who has applied for renewal in compliance with section 4003.004 remains in effect from the date the renewal application is filed until the department acts. File on time and an administrative delay is the department's problem rather than yours.
Continuing education comes first
This is the real work of renewing and the fee is the easy part. It is 24 hours. Section 4004.053 requires an individual holding a general life, accident and health license to complete 24 hours of continuing education during the license period, section 4004.054 requires three of those hours to be ethics each renewal period, and section 4004.051 requires the lot to be finished before the expiration date, with at least half in a classroom or classroom-equivalent setting.
Section 4004.055 is the sharp end. TDI may not renew where the holder failed to complete the requirement by the 90th day after the last day of the licensing period, or failed to pay a fine related to that failure. The handbook lists what renewing actually requires: complete your continuing education, pay any fines or fees that are due, and renew. The shortfall fine is USD 50 per hour, capped at USD 500 per license, and paying it does not complete the education. Texas continuing education in practice covers the chapter properly, including the Medicare hours that apply if you sell those products.
The renewal fee, and why there is no number here
The Insurance Code says the fee is non-refundable and that late renewal carries an additional fee equal to half of it. It does not fix the amount, which is set administratively and changes. TDI's renewal notice lists the expiration date and the renewal fees for your particular license.
We could put a plausible figure here. We are not going to, for the same reason we do not print a fingerprinting fee: a number nobody checked is worse than a visible gap on a page somebody is using to keep their license alive.
Late is a series of cliffs, not a slope
| How late | What you can do | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| On time | Renew normally | The renewal fee |
| Expired 90 days or less | Renew | The renewal fee plus half again |
| Expired 90 days to one year | Cannot renew. Apply for a new license without reexamination | The license fee plus half again |
| Expired one year or more | Cannot renew. Apply for a new license and sit the examination again | Full cost, from the start |
That table is section 4003.007, and the steps are steep. The difference between day 89 and day 91 of lateness is the difference between renewing and reapplying. What happens if your license lapses works through each tier.
Our opinion: put your continuing education deadline in a calendar the day you are licensed, not your renewal deadline. The renewal is an afternoon of admin. The education is the thing with lead time, and every serious renewal failure we can find in the statute starts with education rather than with a missed fee.
The concession: we hold the Insurance Code and the handbook, and the department's own rules on renewal procedure sit in title 28 of the Administrative Code, which we do not hold. So this page describes the statutory frame accurately and cannot tell you what the current renewal screen asks for.
Common questions
When does a Texas insurance license expire?
On your birthday every second year. Section 4003.001 sets expiry on your birthday in even-numbered years if the license was issued or renewed in an even year, and on your birthday in odd-numbered years if it was issued or renewed in an odd one.
How do you renew a Texas insurance license?
Complete your 24 hours of continuing education, three of them in ethics, pay any fines or fees due, and file the renewal through Sircon, Texas Online or NIPR depending on license type. TDI sends written notice of the impending expiration not later than the 30th day before the date.
How much is the Texas insurance license renewal fee?
We do not publish a figure. The Insurance Code makes the renewal fee non-refundable and sets a late fee of half the renewal fee, but the amount itself is set administratively. TDI's renewal notice lists the current fee for your license type.
What if you renew late?
Expired 90 days or less, you renew and pay an extra half-fee. Expired between 90 days and a year, you cannot renew but can get a new license without reexamination. Expired a year or more, you sit the examination again.
Does your license stay valid while TDI processes the renewal?
Yes. Section 4003.006 says the original license of a person who has applied for renewal in compliance with the procedure remains in effect from the date the renewal application is filed until the department acts on it. Filing on time protects you from processing delays.