What This License Is
The New Mexico Life line of authority covers life insurance and annuities, and it is one of the lines listed by statute at NMSA 1978 §59A-12-17(A). It is issued by the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance (OSI).
Two boundaries are worth fixing early. Annuities are sold under this line — there is no separate fixed-annuity licence in New Mexico. But variable life and variable annuity products are not: those require the Life licence plus FINRA and SEC securities registration, and PSI publishes no New Mexico variable-products exam because the state relies on the federal registration instead.
If you also intend to write accident and health, compare this exam against the combined Series 18-27, which covers both lines in one 150-question sitting for the same $75 fee. Taking 18-25 and 18-26 separately costs $150 and 200 questions; the combined exam is the cheaper path if you want both authorities.
Life Exam Options in New Mexico
PSI Services administers every New Mexico insurance examination. PSI replaced Prometric on 27 August 2024 — Prometric's New Mexico bulletin is still online, still dated 2019, and still ranks in search results. It is superseded; do not schedule from it.
| Route | Exam | Items | Time | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life only | Series 18-25 | 100 (+5-10 unscored) | 2 hr | $75 |
| Life + A&H together | Series 18-27 | 150 | 2 hr 30 min | $75 |
Both are offered onsite at a PSI test centre and by live online proctoring — New Mexico has kept remote delivery for its insurance exams while several states' vendors have withdrawn it. The Health guide covers the remote option in detail.
The passing standard is 70% of scored items, and in New Mexico that is a plain raw percentage. The PSI bulletin contains no scaled-score language at all, so the caution you may have read for other states — that the reported number is neither the count nor the percentage of correct answers — does not apply here.
Most Tested Topics on the New Mexico Life Exam
The Life exam's New Mexico-specific weight sits almost entirely in policy provisions — the intervals the state fixes by statute. From the TESTivity New Mexico regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Concept | The New Mexico rule | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| Incontestability, individual life | 2 years from the date of issue, during the insured's lifetime | §59A-20-5 |
| Grace period, individual life | 30 days (one month) | §59A-20-4 |
| Reinstatement window | Within 3 years of premium default — but only 2 years for industrial life — on evidence of insurability and payment of arrears | §59A-20-12 |
| Reinstatement interest cap | Overdue premiums bear interest not exceeding 6% per year, compounded annually | §59A-20-12 |
| Suicide exclusion | A policy may exclude suicide within 2 years of issue — the statute caps how far an exclusion may reach, it does not require one | §59A-20-25(A)(2) |
| Free look, individual life | New Mexico mandates no general individual-life free look by rule; 13.9.5.9(A) treats a 10-day unconditional refund provision as a condition that lets the insurer deliver the Buyer's Guide with the policy | 13.9.5.9(A) NMAC |
| Nonforfeiture options | Cash surrender value, reduced paid-up insurance, extended term insurance | §59A-20-31 |
| Viatical rescission window | At least 15 days from receipt of the proceeds; the contract is deemed rescinded if the insured dies within the period | §59A-20A |
| Annuity suitability standard | New Mexico adopted the NAIC 2020 best-interest revision to the Suitability in Annuity Transactions rule | 13.9.20 NMAC |
Two of these reliably cost candidates points. The first is the industrial life carve-out in the reinstatement rule — national prep teaches a flat three-year reinstatement window, and New Mexico's statute shortens it to two years for industrial life specifically. A question that names an industrial policy is testing exactly that distinction.
The second is the 6% interest ceiling on reinstatement arrears, compounded annually. This is standard-policy-provision language rather than a New Mexico peculiarity, but the exam still asks for both the ceiling and the compounding basis, and candidates who assume the rate is left entirely to the contract lose the point.
Applying for Your New Mexico Licence, Step by Step
New Mexico is an exam-first state. You sit the exam, then you apply — and the order is enforced, not merely recommended: NIPR verifies the passing result before it will accept the application at all. Applicants used to Florida's or Georgia's apply-first sequence trip over this constantly.
Step 1 — Pass the exam, and start the clock. OSI must receive your complete application, including the licence fee, within one year of the date you pass. Miss it and the exam must be retaken. Note this is a different one-year period from the exam fee's one-year validity, which runs from the date of payment.
Step 2 — Register for fingerprinting before you go anywhere. OSI's instruction is explicit that applicants register before being fingerprinted. The Casualty guide walks the background check step by step; the point here is that it is a parallel track you should start the same week you pass, not something to leave until the application is filed.
Step 3 — File on NIPR at nipr.com. New Mexico takes resident producer applications, renewals, amendments and reinstatements through NIPR; there is no separate OSI portal for an individual application. The state fee is $30 for the resident producer licence, set by statute at NMSA 1978 §59A-6-1. NIPR adds its own transaction fee, which the state does not publish.
Step 4 — Answer the background questions carefully. New Mexico screens criminal history under §59A-11-7 and the rule at 13.4.2.9(C)(5) NMAC. A felony involving dishonesty or breach of trust engages the federal prohibition at 18 U.S.C. §1033, and writing business without the Superintendent's written consent under §1033 is a separate federal problem, not merely a licensing one. Disclose and document rather than omit.
Step 5 — Appointments come after the licence. The licence itself lets you transact; each carrier appointment is filed separately at $20 per kind of insurance, per insurer (§59A-6-1(E)). Read that per kind as well as per carrier: a producer appointed by three insurers for both life and health files six appointments, not three.
What the Life Licence Costs
New Mexico charges a flat $75 per attempt for every producer exam — the Life exam costs exactly what the 150-question combined exam costs, which is a genuine argument for taking the combined paper if you want both authorities.
The $30 resident producer licence fee is statutory (§59A-6-1) and is charged per licence rather than per line of authority. Biennial continuation is $60, and each insurer appointment is $20.
Two costs are not stated on this page because New Mexico does not publish them where they can be verified: NIPR's transaction fee, and the IdentoGO fingerprint charge. Both are disclosed at the point of payment.
Eligibility
You must be at least 18 (NMSA 1978 §59A-12-12), pass the Series 18-25 examination, submit fingerprints for a state and federal background check, and not have committed an act that is a ground for denial, suspension or revocation under the Insurance Code.
No pre-licensing course is required. This is confirmed three separate ways: the PSI bulletin states OSI "does not specify an official study manual, nor are you required to take a pre-licensing study course"; §59A-12-16 requires only that a resident applicant personally take and pass a written examination; and 13.4.2 NMAC, replaced in full effective 1 April 2025, contains no prelicensing provision at all.
The examination itself can be waived in defined circumstances — a Chartered Life Underwriter (C.L.U.) designation waives the life and annuity examination under 13.4.2.11(B)(3), and there are statutory exemptions for recent prior licensure and for new residents. The Life & Health guide covers the waiver routes in full.
Continuing Education for Life Producers
Important CE details: Three of the 24 hours must be ethics, leaving 21 general. Credit hours cannot be carried over into the next compliance period. The specialty trainings listed at 13.4.7.10(C)(2) NMAC - stop loss (8 hours), flood (4 hours) and long-term care (8 initial, then 4 per compliance period) - count toward the 24 rather than sitting on top of it. Annuity product training is a separate requirement under 13.9.20 NMAC and is not part of that clause.
24 credit hours every two years, of which 3 must be ethics — the same total whether you hold one line or five. Holding Life alongside Property and Casualty does not multiply the requirement.
Courses and providers must be approved by the Superintendent, and no hours carry over into the next compliance period. The compliance period tracks the licence: biennial, expiring the last day of your birth month.
Life producers who sell long-term care complete an initial 8 hours of LTC training, then 4 hours each compliance period, before transacting it. Under 13.4.7.10(C)(2) NMAC that training — along with stop-loss and flood — counts toward the 24 rather than sitting on top of them. Annuity product training is different: it is a separate requirement under 13.9.20 NMAC, the Suitability in Annuity Transactions rule, and is not part of the 13.4.7 clause.
Missing the CE deadline is expensive in a way that is easy to underestimate: Under NMSA 1978 §59A-12-26 the Superintendent may impose a penalty not to exceed $50 for a licensee's failure to timely report continuing education credits, and late-renewal charges apply separately.
Quick Reference
Official Links
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