Virginia Insurance CE Requirements: Your Complete Guide to 16 and 24 Hours

Every Virginia resident insurance producer must complete continuing education before renewing their license. The amount required depends on a single variable: how many license types you hold. If you hold one license type — or hold both Life & Annuities and Health together — you complete 16 CE hours per biennial cycle. If you hold two or more license types — typically Life & Health plus Property & Casualty — you complete 24 CE hours, with a minimum of 8 hours applicable to each license type. This is the foundational structure that every other CE rule flows from. This post covers the full Virginia CE framework: what counts, what is required, who administers it, and how to stay compliant before your renewal deadline.

The Two Tiers: 16 Hours vs. 24 Hours

Virginia's CE requirement is designed around license types, not individual lines of authority. Understanding this distinction avoids common miscalculations.

Life, Annuities, and Health are treated as a single license type. A producer holding a Life & Annuities license, a Health license, or both together is considered to hold one license type for CE purposes. They complete 16 CE hours per biennial renewal cycle, including 3 hours of ethics.

Property and Casualty are treated as a single license type. A producer holding a Property license, a Casualty license, a combined P&C license, or a Personal Lines license falls within the P&C license type. They also complete 16 CE hours if this is their only license type.

Holding two license types — L/A/H AND P&C — triggers the 24-hour requirement. A producer licensed in both Life & Health and Property & Casualty holds two license types and must complete 24 CE hours per cycle, with a minimum of 8 hours applicable to each license type. The 8-hour minimums cannot be waived by taking more than 16 hours in one type.

The Ethics Requirement

Every Virginia resident producer must complete at least 3 credit hours of ethics as part of their total CE requirement — whether the total is 16 or 24 hours. Ethics hours are not a separate add-on; they count toward the total.

Virginia's ethics requirement has an important distinction: for producers (not public adjusters), ethics courses may include material on Virginia insurance law and regulations. A 3-hour Virginia laws and regulations course can satisfy the ethics requirement. However, ethics courses categorized as Other General Insurance (OGI) credits cannot be applied to the ethics requirement — OGI courses count toward total hours but not toward the 3-hour ethics minimum.

The Company-Sponsored Course Cap

No more than 75% of your required CE credits may come from courses provided by insurance companies or agencies. This means:

For a 16-hour producer: no more than 12 hours may be company-sponsored

For a 24-hour producer: no more than 18 hours may be company-sponsored

This rule prevents producers from fulfilling their entire CE obligation through carrier-provided training. At least 25% of required credits must come from non-company-sponsored courses.

Who Administers Virginia CE

Virginia's CE program is administered by the Virginia Insurance Continuing Education Board, a statutory board created by the Virginia General Assembly. The Board has contracted with Pearson VUE to administer the day-to-day operations of the CE program — including course approvals, transcript tracking, and the continuance fee.

For CE questions, contact Pearson VUE directly:

Email: VirginiaInsuranceCE@pearson.com

Phone: 877-234-6093

The Virginia Bureau of Insurance (SCC) handles licensing and renewal processing. Pearson VUE handles CE program administration. These are two separate systems — completing CE through Pearson VUE-approved courses does not automatically renew your license; you must also submit the renewal application and pay the renewal fee through NIPR or Sircon.

Your Renewal Deadline

Virginia licenses expire at the end of your birth month, based on the odd/even year of your birth:

Born in an even year: license expires at the end of your birth month in even-numbered years (2024, 2026, 2028...)

Born in an odd year: license expires at the end of your birth month in odd-numbered years (2025, 2027, 2029...)

Your CE must be completed before your license renewal date. There is no grace period for CE — failing to complete CE by your renewal date prevents renewal and triggers license termination.

Continuance fee: Virginia's CE program requires producers to pay a biennial continuance fee to the CE program administrator (Pearson VUE) before earned CE credits can be applied to the renewal requirement. This fee is due by November 30 of the renewal year. Confirm the current fee amount and payment process at virginiainsurancece.com.

Carryover Credits

Virginia allows excess CE credits to be carried forward one renewal cycle. Credits completed in excess of your requirement in the current biennium can be applied to the next biennium. However, the courses must be reported in the biennium in which they were taken — you cannot retroactively claim credits from a prior period for a current deficiency.

You may not take the same course twice within a single biennium for credit.

Specialty Requirements

In addition to the general CE requirement, several one-time and ongoing specialty training requirements apply:

Annuity Best Interest: One-time 4-hour training before selling any annuity product

LTC Partnership: 8-hour initial training before selling LTC Partnership policies; 4-hour ongoing training every 24 months thereafter

NFIP Flood Insurance: One-time 3-hour training before selling flood insurance through the NFIP

These specialty requirements are addressed in detail in separate posts in this cluster.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Virginia require CE for non-resident producers?

Non-resident producers are not required to complete Virginia CE. Virginia accepts CE compliance from the producer's home state as satisfying the Virginia non-resident CE requirement. Non-resident producers who are CE-compliant in their home state are considered compliant in Virginia. However, certain specialty training requirements — specifically the LTC Partnership 2-hour Virginia-specific module — do apply to non-resident producers who sell LTC Partnership products in Virginia, regardless of home-state CE compliance. Non-resident producers are also required to pay a non-resident CE documentation filing fee to the CE administrator by November 30. Contact Pearson VUE for current non-resident fee details.

Do I have to take CE courses specific to my line of authority?

For the 16-hour single license requirement, all CE hours must be relevant to the license type held — you cannot take P&C courses to satisfy a Life & Health CE requirement. For dual licensees completing 24 hours, the 8-hour minimum per license type must consist of courses applicable to that license type. Ethics courses (which may include Virginia insurance law and regulations) apply to both license types and count toward the ethics minimum regardless of which license type the other content addresses. The 75% company-sponsored cap applies to your total requirement — if you hold two license types and need 24 hours, no more than 18 hours can be company-sponsored across both license types combined.

What happens if I complete more than my required CE hours?

Excess CE credits earned above your biennial requirement can be carried forward to the next renewal cycle automatically — no action required on your part. However, the courses must have been reported to the CE program in the biennium in which they were taken. Credits from prior biennia that were not reported in the correct period cannot be retroactively applied. This carryover provision rewards producers who complete CE early and consistently, rather than scrambling to finish requirements in the weeks before their renewal deadline. Building a habit of completing CE well before the renewal date also gives course providers time to report completions to the Bureau before your license expiration.

How do I check my Virginia CE transcript?

Virginia CE transcripts are maintained through Sircon. Log in at sircon.com/virginia and use the Continuing Education Transcript Inquiry tool to view your current CE credit balance, the courses completed, the dates of completion, and the categories applied. This is the most reliable way to confirm that your CE credits have been reported correctly before submitting your renewal application. If a course completion is missing from your transcript, contact Pearson VUE at 877-234-6093 or VirginiaInsuranceCE@pearson.com — the CE administrator resolves transcript discrepancies, not the Bureau of Insurance.

What is the difference between the CE requirement and the continuance fee?

The CE requirement refers to the credit hours you must complete — 16 or 24 hours per biennium. The continuance fee is a separate administrative fee paid to the CE program administrator (Pearson VUE) that must be paid before your completed CE credits can be applied to your renewal. These are two distinct obligations: completing the hours without paying the continuance fee means your credits are not officially recognized; paying the fee without completing the hours means your license still cannot be renewed. Both must be satisfied. The continuance fee is due by November 30 of the renewal year. Confirm the current fee amount at virginiainsurancece.com, as fee amounts are subject to change.

Virginia's CE framework is straightforward once you understand the license type distinction — 16 hours for one type, 24 for two — and build your biennial schedule around your birth-month renewal deadline well in advance.

Visit JustInsurance to enroll today and complete your Virginia CE requirements with state-approved courses that meet the current Pearson VUE content standards.