Much is made of the Texas adjuster license and the benefits vis-a-vis its reciprocal privileges nationwide.  Much is made but indeed little of the information commonly found in online materials is truly accurate.  This document (see page 2) taken from the Texas Department of Insurance is at once a source of great information and great confusion regarding reciprocal licensing.

The documents states that “Texas will grant reciprocity in licensing non-resident adjusters. To the best of our knowledge, the following states issue an adjuster license that would allow reciprocal licensing in Texas.”  It goes on to list these 32 states:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming

So, if you hold a license in one of these states you should be able to reciprocally obtain your Texas non-resident adjuster license.  It does not mean, however, that if you hold a Texas license then you can reciprocally obtain licenses in every one of these states. The confusion is caused when one understandably interprets “reciprocal” to mean that if it works in one direction it should work in the other.  This just isn’t the case and really the term reciprocal is misused.  In researching state licensing, I found the following states will not grant a license to those holding a Texas adjuster license (resident or non-resident):

Arizona, California, Nevada, and New York

And, on the list, Massachusetts does not issue independent adjuster licenses.

To muddy the waters further there is a fairly significant difference in reciprocal powers between a resident and a non-resident Tx adjuster license.  A resident adjuster license will get you licensed in all of the states above (aside from the exceptions noted) while a non-resident license will only get you about half (see more on use of the non-resident Tx adjuster license)

So next time you hear about the Tx license being “good in 32 states” do keep in mind that a) that isn’t true and b) there are a number of qualifying factors that go into determining what kind of mileage you get out of your Tx license.  Admittedly, it is a bit complicated but hopefully this clarifies the issue just a little.

Regards,

- Daniel Kerr