What This License Is
A Wyoming Life line of authority lets you sell life insurance and annuities in the state. It is issued by the Wyoming Insurance Department and examined as exam code 01.
The Life line includes annuities. Variable life and variable annuities are a separate line — exam code 85 — and Wyoming requires a FINRA CRD number on the application for it, alongside the state exam.
Wyoming does offer a combined Life and Accident and Health or Sickness paper (code 05), which earns both lines in one 150-question sitting for $113. The Life & Health guide covers that route and the trade-off.
One structural feature worth knowing before you plan: there is no pre-licensing education requirement. The Department's own description of how to get licensed is three steps — pass the exam, apply and pay, get fingerprinted — with no course step in it. You can register for the exam whenever you are ready.
Exam Options & Format
The Life examination is exam code 01, delivered by Pearson VUE: 100 questions in 2 hours at $96 on the handbook's fee table.
The paper comes in two parts. The handbook is explicit: "Each major line examination is given in a multiple-choice format and consists of two parts. The general section deals with basic insurance product knowledge. The state section deals with insurance laws, rules, regulations, and practices that are unique to Wyoming." The content outlines effective July 31, 2025 give Life 50 scored plus 5 pretest on the general side and 35 scored plus 5 pretest on the Wyoming side.
Those outline figures total 95, while the handbook's fee table prints 100. The handbook carries a January 2023 cover date and the outlines a January 2026 one; both are live Pearson VUE documents, and neither says the handbook total is the two parts added together. Use the outlines to plan what to study and the handbook to plan your sitting.
The passing standard is a straight percentage. The handbook says "You need to answer 70% of questions correctly in order to pass the examination" and, in the same section, "Examination scores are based on the number of questions answered correctly." Unlike some states, Wyoming does not report a scaled score — so working out how many questions you can afford to miss is a legitimate exercise here.
Partial passes are not permitted. The handbook: "If part of a combination exam is failed the entire combination exam must be taken again and at least a 70% must be achieved on the entire combination examination in order to be licensed in that line of authority." The two parts are scored together as one paper.
Wyoming offers online proctored delivery through OnVUE as well as test centres — the Health guide covers it, including the two-attempt online cap.
Most Tested Topics on the Wyoming Life Exam
The Wyoming State section is where the marginal study hour pays. These provisions are enacted as individual statute sections rather than as lettered items inside one section, so each carries its own cite:
| Concept | The Wyoming rule |
|---|---|
| Free look, individual life | There is no general free-look requirement for ordinary individual life insurance in Wyoming — not in the code and not in the Department's rules. Free looks exist product by product, and their instruments differ |
| Free look, replacement | 30 days from the date of delivery, by RULE: the replacing insurer must provide, in the policy or a separate notice delivered with it, a right to "an unconditional refund of all premiums paid" — 044-2 Wyo. Code R. §12-7(d) |
| Grace period, individual life | 30 days — or, at the insurer's option, one month of not less than 30 days; 4 weeks for industrial life payable more often than monthly. The insurer may charge interest not exceeding 6% for the days of grace used — W.S. 26-16-103 |
| Incontestability, life policy | 2 years from date of issue during the insured's lifetime, except for nonpayment; disability-benefit and accidental-death provisions excluded — W.S. 26-16-104 |
| Reinstatement, life policy | 3 years from premium default (2 years for industrial life), on five conditions including evidence of insurability and interest not exceeding 6% per annum compounded annually — W.S. 26-16-110(a)(i)-(v) |
| Suicide exclusion ceiling | A life policy may exclude suicide only for death within two years from the date of issue, "while sane or insane" — W.S. 26-16-119(a)(ii)(E). Where any permitted exclusion applies the insurer must still pay at least the reserve computed on the commissioners' reserve valuation method — 26-16-119(b) |
| Time to sue on a life policy | A life policy may not limit the time to bring an action to less than three years after the cause of action accrues — W.S. 26-16-119(a)(i) |
| Policy loans | Available after 3 full years' premiums are paid; the insurer may defer a loan other than to pay premiums for 6 months; termination for excess indebtedness needs 30 days' mailed notice — W.S. 26-16-108(b), (c)(ii), (d) |
| Policy loan interest ceiling | Policies issued on or after July 1, 1983: a fixed maximum of not more than 8% per year, or an adjustable maximum. An adjustable rate is redetermined at least every 12 months but not more than every 3 months; an increase is permitted only at half a percent or more, and a reduction is required at half a percent or more — W.S. 26-16-108(g), (h), (j) |
| Interest on delayed death proceeds | Interest accrues from the date of death at a rate not less than the rate payable on death proceeds left on deposit with the insurer — W.S. 26-16-112(b). Two carve-outs: on a private placement policy interest runs from the later of 60 days after death or receipt of proof of death in good order, and the requirement does not apply at all to variable contracts whose benefits vary with separate-account experience — 26-16-112(d) |
| Deadline to accept or reject a claim | 45 days after receipt of the proofs of loss and supporting evidence, for life, accident and health claims alike — W.S. 26-15-124(a). Where a court finds a refusal to pay "unreasonable or without cause" it may award attorney's fees and interest at ten percent per year — 26-15-124(c) |
| Annuity best interest | Wyoming adopted the 2020 NAIC best-interest model: a producer recommending an annuity "shall act in the best interest of the consumer," satisfying obligations of care, disclosure, conflict of interest and documentation — 044-2 Wyo. Code R. §64-5 |
Start with the free look, because the answer is mostly "none." Wyoming imposes no general free look on an ordinary individual life policy. What it has instead is a set of product-specific rights in different instruments: a 30-day replacement free look in the Commissioner's rule, a 30-day long-term care free look in the statute, a 30-day Medicare supplement free look in a rule, and a 10-day variable life free look in a rule. A candidate who memorises "ten days" from national material will get this wrong in both directions.
Then the suicide clause, and where it hides. There is no section captioned "suicide." W.S. 26-16-119 is captioned Provisions limiting liability in life insurance policies prohibited; exceptions, and it works by prohibition-with-exceptions: no life policy may exclude liability for death in a specified manner except in five listed circumstances — war, aviation, a specified hazardous occupation, death while resident outside the continental United States and Canada, and suicide within two years. And subsection (b) is the limb candidates miss: where such an exclusion applies, the insurer must still pay at least the policy reserve. It is not a premium refund.
Applying for Your Wyoming License — Every Step
Step 1 — Pass the exam. Residents must pass before applying; Wyoming does not take applications first.
Step 2 — Apply and pay, through Sircon. This is the step most study material gets wrong. The Wyoming Insurance Department has no licensing portal of its own, and every licensing action on its site links to Sircon — apply, check application status, renew or reinstate, print a licence, change an address, look up CE transcripts and approved courses. The Department's FAQ says it plainly: "You may apply for your license online through Sircon."
NIPR is a second door, not a wrong one. NIPR's Wyoming resident-licensing page offers to "submit initial license for individuals electronically", so the application can be filed there too — the Department simply does not link to it. What NIPR is uniquely named for is the Attachment Warehouse: if you answer yes to a background question, "you must upload your documents to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse immediately after completing your application" (Wyoming also accepts them by email to insurancelicensing@wyo.gov). And note who does what at the end: Sircon is Wyoming's licence-printing vendor, charging its own fee for a copy, which NIPR does not collect.
The Department also publishes fillable paper forms on Google Drive — Producer Application, Producer Renewal, Adjuster, Business Entity, Public Adjuster, Appointment/Termination and others — for anyone who would rather file on paper.
Step 3 — Fingerprints, and only after applying. The Department mails a fingerprint packet after it receives your application, and it capitalises the warning: "DO NOT SEND IN YOUR FINGERPRINTS BEFORE YOU HAVE APPLIED! If we do not have an application on file the fingerprint cards will be destroyed." The Casualty guide walks that step through.
The fee is per fee group, not per line. A resident pays $100 covering "Property, Casualty, or Personal Lines (any combination)," and $100 covering "Life, Accident & Sickness, or Variable Life & Annuities (any combination)." Adding a line inside a group you already hold is free; crossing into the other group costs another $100 for residents or $150 for non-residents. Most limited lines and specialty limited lines are $20 per line of authority for an individual — but Credit is $100, and the firm fee is $100 on every limited line.
The one-year deadline lives only in the handbook. "Please note that the application process must be completed within one year of passing the examination." That sentence appears in Pearson VUE's candidate handbook and on no Department page — which is exactly why the handbook is worth reading rather than skimming.
Processing. The Department gives a typical turnaround of 30 days from application to issuance for a resident licence, and notes that many non-resident applications are approved the same day. The fingerprint background check itself usually runs 2 to 3 weeks from the day the Department receives your prints.
Wyoming also issues temporary licences for up to 180 days in defined business-servicing circumstances — the Life & Health guide covers them.
What It Costs
Wyoming is inexpensive to enter, mostly because there is no mandatory pre-licensing course to buy.
The run for a resident: $96 to Pearson VUE for the Life exam, $100 to the Department with the application, and $39 for fingerprinting — about $235 if you pass first time. Each retake is another $96.
Two structural points save money. The $100 application fee covers a fee group, not a line — Life, Accident and Sickness, and Variable Life and Annuities together are one $100. And the combined Life and Health paper is $113 against $192 for the two single papers taken separately.
Non-residents pay $150 and are not fingerprinted, so their all-in cost is the exam fee plus $150.
One caveat on the exam fee: it is printed in a candidate handbook with a January 2023 cover date, and no newer fee source was found. Confirm the current figure when you book.
Eligibility Requirements
You must be at least 18 years old, and residents must pass the Wyoming licensing examination for the lines of authority sought before applying. Wyoming's Department of Insurance describes a three-step path for residents — pass the exam, apply and pay the fee, then complete the fingerprint background check — with no pre-licensing course step in it.
A criminal record does not automatically bar a licence. The Department's FAQ addresses it directly, and an applicant answering yes to a background question uploads four items to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse: the original charging documents; final disposition documents including the judge's final order and any fines or sentencing; proof that all fines are paid and all sentencing including probation is complete; and a written explanation of the circumstances. Federal law at 18 U.S.C. 1033 separately requires written consent for anyone convicted of a felony involving dishonesty or breach of trust.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: Twenty-four classroom hours in each two-year licensing period, three of them ethics. Credits above the 24 carry forward to the next term, capped at 12 and only if earned within 120 days of expiration, and carryover counts as general credit rather than ethics. There has been no continuing education fee since January 1, 2023, and the Department grants no extensions for any reason. Providers have 15 days to file completion certificates, so finish more than 30 days out.
Wyoming licences renew every two years on the last day of the month of your birthday, and each period requires 24 classroom hours of continuing education including at least 3 hours of ethics (W.S. 26-9-231).
Selling annuities carries one extra gate: a one-time four-credit Department-approved annuity training course under Rule §64-6. A producer licensed after the regulation took effect may not sell annuities until it is completed, and a producer who had completed an older annuity course must take either a new four-credit course or an additional one-credit top-up on sales practices and disclosure.
Long-term care is different from most states — Wyoming's own law prescribes no LTC training hour count. The Property & Casualty guide covers the renewal mechanics, the carryover rules and the reinstatement cliff.
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