How to Reinstate a Lapsed Virginia Insurance License

Virginia insurance licenses do not renew automatically and do not have a forgiveness period for missing the renewal deadline. When a Virginia producer license expires — whether because CE was not completed, the renewal application was not submitted, or both — the license is administratively terminated. The consequences are immediate: you cannot legally sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance in Virginia with a terminated license. For producers who find themselves in this situation, Virginia does provide a path to reinstatement, but it has a hard deadline, specific costs, and no exceptions for the underlying CE obligation. Here is exactly what you need to do.

Why Virginia Licenses Lapse

Virginia licenses expire on November 30 of even years — a single statewide deadline that applies to all producers regardless of when they were originally licensed. Licenses lapse for two reasons, which often occur together:

Failure to complete CE: Virginia requires 16 CE hours per biennial cycle (24 hours for dual-line licensees), including 3 hours of ethics. If CE is not completed by November 30, the license cannot be renewed and is administratively terminated on that date.

Failure to submit the renewal application: Even if CE is complete, the license lapses if the renewal application and fee are not submitted through NIPR or Sircon by November 30. Virginia has no grace period after the expiration date — the day after November 30, a license that was not renewed is terminated.

The Reinstatement Window

Virginia allows reinstatement within one year from the license expiration date. For a license that expired November 30, 2024, the reinstatement deadline is November 30, 2025. After that one-year window closes, reinstatement is no longer available — a new license application, including retaking the Prometric exam, is required.

Reinstatement Requirements

To reinstate a lapsed Virginia insurance license, you must satisfy all of the following:

1. Complete outstanding CE requirements. You cannot reinstate until you are CE-compliant. If you missed the biennial CE requirement that caused the lapse, you must complete those hours before the Bureau will process reinstatement. CE for the current biennium must also be addressed. Contact Pearson VUE (which administers Virginia's CE program) at 877-234-6093 or VirginiaInsuranceCE@pearson.com to check your CE transcript and determine what hours are outstanding.

2. Submit a reinstatement application through NIPR or Sircon. Applications are submitted through the same platforms used for initial licensing and renewals.

3. Pay the reinstatement fees:

A producer reinstating a single line of authority pays $60 per line ($10 + $30 + $20) plus the $5.60 processing fee. A producer reinstating five lines of authority pays $300 in reinstatement fees plus processing.

4. Provide updated background documentation if required. If significant time has passed since your original fingerprinting and CHRR, the Bureau may request updated documentation. Contact the Bureau directly at AgentLicensing@scc.virginia.gov if your reinstatement involves more than a brief lapse.

What You Cannot Do While Lapsed

A lapsed license is not an inactive license — it is a terminated license. While your license is lapsed:

You cannot sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance in Virginia in any line you previously held

Your carrier appointments are not valid for transacting business

You cannot receive commissions for insurance transactions in Virginia

If you transact insurance during a lapse period, you are operating without a license — a violation of Title 38.2 that can result in fines and permanent license bars. Do not continue operating on the assumption that your license is still active when you know it has expired.

After Reinstatement Approval

Once reinstated, your license is active again for the lines you held. Your carrier appointments that were on file prior to lapse may need to be re-activated by the appointing insurer — contact your carriers to confirm appointment status after your license is reinstated.

Your CE clock resets for the next biennial cycle. Going forward, make CE completion and renewal submission part of a calendar-driven process — the November 30 deadline is the same for every Virginia producer, which means there is no excuse for being caught off-guard by it.

If the One-Year Window Has Passed

If your license lapsed more than one year ago, reinstatement is not available. You must apply for a new Virginia producer license from scratch:

Pass the Prometric exam for each line you want to hold ($35 per exam)

Complete Fieldprint fingerprinting ($34.95)

Obtain a new CHRR from the Virginia State Police

Submit a new application through NIPR or Sircon ($15 per line)

The exam score is valid for 183 days from your Prometric exam date. If you have previously held a Virginia license, you still must pass the current exam — there is no grandfathering of prior passage for re-applicants who missed the reinstatement window.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there any grace period after November 30 to renew a Virginia insurance license?

No. Virginia's Bureau of Insurance provides no grace period after the November 30 renewal deadline. The day after November 30, any license not renewed is administratively terminated. This is a stricter policy than many states, which provide 30 to 60 days of grace period after the license expiration date during which the license remains technically active. In Virginia, the termination is effective immediately upon the deadline passing. The Bureau does send renewal reminder notices to licensed producers approximately 90 days before expiration — ensure your mailing address and email address are current in the Bureau's system so you receive these notices. Contact information changes must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the change.

What happens to my carrier appointments when my license lapses?

Your carrier appointments are tied to your active producer license. When the license is administratively terminated due to non-renewal, the appointments no longer authorize you to transact insurance on behalf of the appointing carrier. The appointments themselves are not automatically cancelled by the carriers, but they are effectively void because the underlying license authority is gone. When your license is reinstated, you should contact each appointing carrier to confirm that your appointment records are updated in their system and with the Bureau of Insurance through NIPR. In some cases, carriers may need to re-file appointments after a reinstatement.

Can I complete CE for the lapsed period after my license has terminated?

Yes — and you must. CE completion is a prerequisite for reinstatement, not a consequence of it. Even after your license has been administratively terminated, you can complete CE courses through Pearson VUE-approved providers and those credits will be recorded to your CE transcript. You must complete any outstanding CE hours before you submit your reinstatement application. The Bureau will verify CE compliance as part of the reinstatement review. Note that Virginia does not allow CE carryover credits to satisfy a prior biennium's missed requirement — if you had a CE deficit in the biennium that caused the lapse, you need to complete those hours specifically for that requirement.

What if I had a CE exemption under the 65/20 grandfather rule — does it still apply after a lapse?

Virginia's 65/20 CE exemption was available to producers who were 65 years old and had held any combination of Virginia licenses continuously for at least 20 years as of December 31, 2018. Producers who qualified and received the permanent exemption by that date were grandfathered. However, if a grandfathered producer allows their license to lapse and fails to reinstate within one year, the permanent exemption is permanently lost. The exemption is tied to continuous licensure. A grandfathered producer who reinstates within one year retains the exemption, provided the reinstatement application and renewal fee are submitted. Any grandfathered producer approaching a renewal deadline should treat it with the same urgency as any CE-required producer.

After reinstatement, when is my next renewal due?

Your next renewal is due November 30 of the next even-year renewal cycle. If you reinstate a license that lapsed November 30, 2024, your next renewal is November 30, 2026. Your CE biennium resets from the date of reinstatement for the new cycle. Begin tracking CE requirements immediately after reinstatement — two years goes faster than expected, and the same November 30 deadline applies to everyone in Virginia regardless of when they reinstated.

A lapsed Virginia insurance license is a fully correctable situation as long as you act within one year of the expiration date. Complete your CE, pay the reinstatement fees, and submit through NIPR or Sircon. Miss the one-year window and the path back requires starting from scratch.

Visit JustInsurance to enroll today, whether you are getting your first Virginia license or preparing to rebuild after a lapse with a CE course that meets the current Bureau of Insurance requirements.