Virginia: Insurance Continuing Education

Did you know? Virginia is home to the largest naval base in the world. A massive fleet of ships isn’t the only thing Virginia has plenty of. It’s also home to some of the most extensive producer licensing continuing education (CE) requirements in the United States. 

Maintaining resident producer licenses is absolutely essential to keeping nonresident licenses in good standing, and CE is a big part of that. 

So, while we’ve done our research on Virginia’s CE requirements, we recommend you do the same. The Virginia State Corporation Commission website is always the best place to go for the most up-to-date information on producer CE requirements. 

What is the due date for Virginia Insurance Continued Education Credits? 

As of Jan. 1, 2021, resident producer licenses expire in Virginia based on a licensee’s birth month and year. For producers born in odd-numbered years, their resident licenses expire at the end of their birth months in odd-numbered years. Those born in even-numbered years will need to renew their licenses at the end of their birth months in even-numbered years. 

Therefore, if your birthdate is June 24, 1980, your license would expire June 30, 2022, then June 30, 2024, and so on. Similarly, if your birthdate is June 24, 1981, your license would expire June 30, 2023, then June 30, 2025, and so on.

Licensees issued their license on or before Jan. 1, 2021, will have 13 months to complete CE before their first renewal period. Similarly, those issued Jan. 1, 2021, have 13 months since licensure to meet CE requirements. 

CE credits are due by the license expiration date.

Who’s exempt from Virginia Insurance CE?

For the most part, nonresident producers are exempt from Virginia CE requirements based on reciprocity with other states, though they’ll need to submit a filing fee by Nov. 30. The exception to this exception, however, is when it comes to partnership long-term care CE requirements, which are outlined below. 

Nonresident producers aren’t the only ones who may be exempt from Virginia CE requirements. Resident producers who are at least 65 years old and have held a Virginia license for 20 consecutive years don’t need to worry about CE requirements. Also, resident producers at least 65 years old who’ve held their license for the preceding four years and hold a license authority for Virginia for at least 20 of the immediately preceding 30 years may also be exempt from maintaining CE requirements.

How many hours of CE are required for Virginia insurance producers?

If a resident licensee in Virginia holds just one license – or life and annuities and health licenses – then they must complete at least 16 hours of CE per renewal period. However, if a resident licensee in Virginia holds two or more licenses, then they must complete 24 hours of CE with at least eight hours in each license type. Three hours of the total CE courses held by resident producers must be in ethics courses and may include material on insurance law and regulations. 

Public adjusters, however, must complete 24 hours of CE credits, of which three must be in ethics and the rest must be in a combination of courses categorized as the following: 

• Property and casualty
• Mitigation
• Flood
• Public adjuster

Producers should be careful to be sure not to take more than 75 percent of credits from agency-sponsored or company-sponsored courses. 

To get CE credits, students must take an exam at course completion. These courses are closed book and must be passed with a score of 70 percent or higher. Don’t stress if you struggle with an exam, as they can be taken an infinite number of times. That said, courses cannot be retaken within a single renewal period even if taken through different formats. For instance, producers cannot take substantially similar courses in both classroom and online formats. 

If you love CE half as much as we do and want to take as many course credits per renewal period, Virginia will reward your enthusiasm by allowing you to carryover course credits to the next renewal period. The caveat here is that the course must be reported in the biennial renewal period within which the course was taken.

Annuity training requirements

Licensed resident producers in Virginia must complete a one-time, four-credit training program on annuity suitability. The approved annuity training course must either be completed through a Virginia-approved course or through a course approved in a state that has adopted the NAIC Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation. 

Nonresidents need not concern themselves with these CE requirements so long as they’ve completed a substantially similar course in their resident state. 

Long-Term Care Partnership training requirements

Before selling long-term care products or partnership policies, resident producers must first complete an initial eight-hour training program. Following the initial training, producers must complete a four-hour ongoing training every biennial renewal period. 

At least two hours of the initial and ongoing training must be in Virginia-specific content. Long-term care training completed in a state other than Virginia can satisfy the non-Virginia hours so long as the training is CE approved and identified as CE for long-term care. 

Insurers are responsible for confirming that producers have completed their long-term care requirements before selling long-term care products and are expected to provide evidence of CE completion to the Virginia Bureau if and when asked. 

If a producer fails to complete a four-hour refresher course within 24 months of completion of the previous long-term care training course, then they will be expected to retake the initial eight-hour training course. 

Flood training requirements

FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program establish a national baseline minimum of three hours of flood-specific training for producers selling flood insurance. 

For more information about state-specific licensing requirements, or to find out how AgentSync can make it easier to operate across multiple states, check out our state pages.

Virginia Insurance CE FAQs