How Much Does a New Mexico Life and Health Insurance License Cost? (2026 Fees)

Getting a New Mexico Life and Health insurance license costs $172 if you pass the combined exam on your first attempt: $75 for the exam, a $30 resident producer license fee and a $67 national criminal background check through IdentoGo. There is no pre-licensing course sitting on top of that total, because New Mexico does not require one. Your only other spending is optional exam preparation.

• Exam fee: $75 per attempt, the same for the combined exam and for each single-line exam
• Resident producer license fee: $30, due with your license application after you pass
• National criminal background check: $67, paid to IdentoGo after the exam
• Total, first-attempt pass with the combined exam: $172
• Appointment fees: paid by the insurer, not the producer
• Pre-licensing course: none required
• Exam preparation: optional, $0 to $79 for a focused course
• Continuing education: 24 hours every two years, including 3 ethics hours

1. Exam Fee, $75 for Any of the Three Exams

Paid to PSI Services LLC (PSI), the company the Office of Superintendent of Insurance (OSI) has contracted to run the examination program, when you register. The combined Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam (Series 18-27), the Life exam (18-25) and the Accident and Health or Sickness exam (18-26) cost $75 each (NMSA 59A-6-1(H)), and PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin lists the same $75. The fee is paid again for every attempt. Exam fees are not refundable or transferable, and a paid fee is valid for one year from the date of payment. You may cancel and reschedule without forfeiting the fee if PSI receives your notice at least 2 days before the exam date; for a Monday appointment, that means by the previous Saturday. A voicemail or an email does not count, so cancel through PSI's website or by speaking to someone.

2. Resident Producer License Fee, $30

The original resident producer license application or filing fee is $30 (NMSA 59A-6-1(E)(1)). You pay it with the license application you file online through NIPR after you pass the exam and your background report is received. It comes after the exam, so a retake does not repeat it.

3. National Criminal Background Check, $67

OSI's Individual Licensing Instruction places a national criminal background check through IdentoGo between the exam and the NIPR application and lists its fee as $67. You pay IdentoGo directly, after the exam. The check is mandatory by statute: NMSA 59A-12-12(B) says the superintendent "shall" obtain the applicant's fingerprints and conduct state and federal criminal background checks before approving a resident producer application. OSI's checklist notes that the report is valid for 90 days from completion and can take 3 to 5 days to reach OSI.

4. Appointment Fees, Paid by the Insurer

If an insurer appoints you to act as its agent, the insurer files the appointment and pays the appointment fee, and the annual continuation of the appointment is paid by the insurer too (NMSA 59A-6-1(E)(3)). Neither is a producer cost, so neither is in the totals on this page.

Every attempt costs the exam fee again, win or lose: $75, for the combined exam or for either single-line exam. Two attempts on the combined exam are $150 in exam fees, three are $225 and four are $300. A retake is the whole exam again, because the combined exam has one score, and the $30 license fee and the $67 background check are not repeated, because both come after you pass.

You cannot book a new appointment on the day you take an exam; a candidate who fails on a Wednesday can call the next day and retest as soon as Friday, depending on space. After four failures of the same exam, NMSA 59A-11-6(E) requires a six-month wait before another attempt, counted from the date of the last exam failed. Make sure PSI receives your cancellation at least 2 days ahead to change or cancel an appointment without forfeiting that attempt's fee. For the content outline, the biggest exam-day mistakes, and a study plan built around them, see how to pass the New Mexico Life and Health exam on the first try.

New Mexico does not require a pre-licensing course for the Life line, the Accident and Health or Sickness line or the combined exam. PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin says so directly: "OSI does not specify an official study manual, nor are you required to take a pre-licensing study course. You are free to use materials of your own choosing to prepare for the license exam." There is no course fee to budget, no classroom-hour minimum, and no course certificate to produce before you register for the exam or file your license application.

The statute agrees: NMSA 59A-12-12 lists the requirements for a resident producer license (age 18, no act that is a ground for denial, the fees paid, and a passed exam for each line of authority sought) and names no course. The background check is a separate matter: the superintendent obtains fingerprints and runs state and federal criminal background checks before approving an application, and the $67 for it belongs in your budget.

Once licensed, a New Mexico producer must complete 24 credit hours of approved continuing education in each two-year compliance period, at least 3 of them in ethics (NMSA 59A-12-26). The ethics hours count within the 24, not on top of it, and one 24-hour requirement covers all the lines you hold. There is no carryover from one period to the next, and repeating the same approved course in a period earns no second credit. Courses must be approved before you enroll. Licenses renew every two years on the last day of your birth month; the first term runs between 13 and 24 months, and PSI's bulletin says you may renew up to 90 days before the license expires. This guide does not quote a price for continuing education courses; compare approved providers as your due date approaches.

The biennial continuation fee for a producer license is $60 (NMSA 59A-6-1(E)(2)). A compliance-credit certification fee of $1 per credit hour applies to continuing education (NMSA 59A-12-26(E)), and late reporting of CE credit carries a penalty of up to $50. Continuing education not completed by renewal means the license cannot be renewed and terminates. If you miss the due date, a continuation request received within 30 days afterward may be granted at 150 percent of the continuation fee. Within 12 months of the due date, a lapsed license can be reinstated without passing the exam again for double the unpaid renewal fee, and you must also complete every CE hour you missed during the lapse. After those 12 months the license cannot be reinstated; a recent former licensee may still be relicensed without an exam, so ask OSI whether your situation qualifies.

Exam preparation is the one cost on this page you fully control.

$0, the free stack. PSI publishes the New Mexico Candidate Information Bulletin, which explains the exam format, fees, scoring and scheduling rules, and a content outline for each exam series that prints the number of scored questions in every section. Together they tell you what is tested, not how the material works or how New Mexico law applies to it.

$14.99 to $79, a focused exam-prep course. LanePrep's New Mexico Life and Health course is nine audio chapters built from PSI's own content outline, with a chapter quiz after every chapter. It costs $14.99 per month or $79 once as a one-time purchase. Chapters 1 and 9 are free, no signup, so you can judge the format before paying for either option.

Three realistic budgets for an individual resident applicant. Each total counts the exam fee, the $30 license fee and the $67 background check; appointment fees are paid by the insurer and are not included.

Pass the combined exam on the first attempt: $172 plus preparation

• Exam fee $75
• Resident producer license fee $30
• National criminal background check $67
• Preparation: free stack ($0), one month of LanePrep ($14.99), or the one-time option ($79)

Fail once, pass on the second attempt: $247 plus preparation

• Exam fees $75 per attempt, so $150 across two attempts
• License fee $30 and background check $67, each paid once, after you pass
• Preparation: as above, with a re-drill of the questions you missed

Both single-line exams instead of the combined one: $247 plus preparation

• Life $75 plus Accident and Health or Sickness $75 in exam fees, versus $75 for the combined exam
• License fee $30 and background check $67, each paid once
• Why you might: two 2-hour sittings instead of one 2.5-hour sitting

A retake adds the $75 exam fee again, with no license fee or background check repeated. A candidate who needs only one line pays the same as for the combined exam, $172 for a first-attempt pass, because a single-line exam is also $75; the difference is the shorter exam, 100 questions in 2 hours instead of 150 in 2.5 hours. If you take the two single-line exams, each is its own $75 fee for every attempt.

For most self-directed candidates the cost-optimal path is:

1. Prepare from a course built for this exam's outline specifically, whichever of the exam options you plan to take.
2. Schedule and pass the exam through PSI, at a test center or online proctored.
3. Complete the $67 IdentoGo background check, then apply through NIPR within one year of passing, paying the $30 license fee.

LanePrep covers step 1: nine audio chapters built from the New Mexico content outline, each with its own quiz, for $14.99 per month or $79 once. Chapters 1 and 9 are free. For the exam itself, the outline, and a study plan, read how to pass the New Mexico Life and Health exam on the first try.

Fees come from PSI's New Mexico Candidate Information Bulletin and Series 18-27 content outline, OSI's Individual Licensing Instruction, and NMSA 59A-6-1, 59A-11-6, 59A-12-12 and 59A-12-26. Read October 2026.