Transfer a Real Estate License to Alabama

Verified July 2026 · 30 official sources

Reciprocal license after a 6-hour course and exam

Alabama does not waive you into a regular license. It issues a distinct license type, the reciprocal salesperson license, to anyone holding a current license in a qualifying state, one where you took prelicense classes and passed a full general plus state exam. You skip the 60-hour prelicense course, the national exam portion, the high school proof, and the 30-hour post license course entirely, since that course rides on a temporary license reciprocal applicants never get. What remains is a 6-hour Alabama law course, a 40-question law exam, a license history under 120 days old, Fieldprint prints, and a qualifying broker. The license period ends September 30, 2026, which is the trap.

First year: $383 to $468Renewal: $185 / 2 yrsWait: Confirming, none publishedWork while waiting: No, not until issuedTravel required: None

What carries over to Alabama, and what does not

Comes with you

Your current qualifying-state license
The national exam portion, waived by the license
Prelicense education from your old state
Active salesperson months anywhere, toward broker
Out-of-state continuing education, as electives only

New for this state

6-hour Alabama law course, no CE credit
40-question law exam, 1 hour, pass 70
License history under 120 days old
Fieldprint prints, no other vendor
An Alabama qualifying broker to hold it

If you hold a broker license

An arriving broker maps to a reciprocal broker license, takes the 6-hour reciprocal broker course, and pays a flat $150 fee for about $210 all in. The out-of-state license covers the experience test, and brokers owe no post licensing.

Working in Alabama without a Alabama license

On a single deal Only if you are a licensed principal broker elsewhere. Alabama allows a written co-brokerage agreement with an Alabama qualifying broker naming each parcel, filed with AREC within 10 days of signing, with the Alabama broker supervising showings and holding escrow. Out-of-state salespersons have no route in.

Referrals Probably not as a bare fee. Alabama lets a licensee split compensation only with a licensee or a listing service, and licensee means someone licensed by Alabama. The old referral fee rule was repealed in 1996 and nothing replaced it, so route money through a filed co-brokerage agreement. Confirming.

Your send-off checklist

YOUPre-register with AREC for a user identification number, gather a license history from your old regulator and every state licensed in the past 5 years, and file the reciprocal determination request first. varies AREC determination form

YOUR SCHOOLTake the 6-hour reciprocal salesperson course. The school posts credit to AREC and the exam cannot be booked until it lands. school sets it AREC course requirements

YOUPass the 40-question Alabama law exam at any Pearson VUE center in the country, within 6 months of the course. $53 Pearson VUE Alabama

YOUGet Livescan prints through Fieldprint with your AREC number. Results reach AREC directly and last only 30 days, so mail the same day. confirming Fieldprint Alabama

YOULine up a qualifying broker, then mail the paper application, documents, and a check to AREC within 90 days of the exam. Nonresidents also sign a consent to jurisdiction. $145 to $230 AREC application instructions

STATE BOARDSAREC issues the license to your qualifying broker. No licensed act before then.

YOURenew by August 31, 2026 to dodge the $150 penalty. A first renewal inside one year of licensure needs no CE. $185 AREC renewal

The money

6-hour Alabama law course	school sets it
Alabama law exam, Pearson VUE	$53
Fieldprint state and FBI prints	confirming
License history from your old state	varies
Reciprocal salesperson license	$85 to $170
Recovery Fund fee, one time	$30
Research and education fee, one time	$30
E and O insurance	$0, not required
Renewal due by August 31, 2026	$185
TOTAL First year, typical	$383 to $468 plus course and prints
Then: renewal every 2 years	$185

Watch out in Alabama

The license period ends September 30, 2026, with a no-penalty renewal deadline of August 31, 2026. A license issued now buys only the sliver of period left and then needs a full $185 renewal at once. September filings add $150, and anything unrenewed goes inactive October 1, 2026.
No bridge from a reciprocal license to an ordinary original Alabama license is documented in the statute, the rules, or any AREC page, and nothing says what happens if your qualifying-state license later lapses. Confirming with AREC at (334) 242-5544.
Co-brokerage tightened October 1, 2025. An out-of-state principal broker is now capped at 3 transactions and $50,000,000 of Alabama volume per calendar year, so regular work needs the reciprocal license.

Official links for Alabama

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