Transfer a Real Estate License to Connecticut
Any state gets in, $670 to $729, short exam for most
Connecticut publishes a 12 state reciprocity list, but the list is not the gate. Conn. Gen. Stat. 20-317(a) tells the state to recognize a current, good standing license from any state that licenses by written exam, and DCP runs a parallel Non-Reciprocal route for the other 38 jurisdictions on terms that differ by exactly one thing, whether you sit the 35 question Connecticut state portion at PSI. Four states on the list sit it anyway, so a licensee from Florida, Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio is in the same position as one from Texas. There is no Connecticut prelicense course, no national exam portion, no fingerprints, no background check, no errors and omissions insurance, no bond, and no broker experience test, so what you pay is money, $670 from the eight no-exam states and $729 from everywhere else, the highest entry cost in this dataset.
What carries over to Connecticut, and what does not
Comes with you
- Your out-of-state license, the whole qualification
- The national exam portion, waived on both routes
- Prelicense hours, never counted, never needed
- Broker experience, not asked for on either form
- Out-of-state CE, electives only, by equivalency review
New for this state
- Certified license history from every state you have ever held
- The 35 question state portion unless you come from the eight
- A supervising Connecticut broker who signs your application
- Irrevocable consent to service of process, nonresidents
- Full 12 hour Connecticut CE, including the 3 hour law course
If you hold a broker license
Roughly double. $1,270 all in from the eight no-exam states and $1,329 if you test, the broker state portion being 45 questions in 60 minutes at a 75 percent pass mark, with no sponsoring broker needed and renewal at $758. Neither application form asks about experience and 20-317(a) says shall recognize, but 20-314(d) still demands 3 years under a Connecticut supervising licensee, 1,500 hours, and 4 closings of a home grown broker, so whether DCP waives that automatically or makes a case by case equivalence call it could decline is confirming. Get the answer in writing from dcp.licenseservices@ct.gov before you send $1,270, and note the broker license expires November 30 of even years with CE due three months earlier.
Working in Connecticut without a Connecticut license
Your send-off checklist
The money
| Application fee | $80 |
|---|---|
| Initial license fee | $570 |
| Guaranty fund fee, one time | $20 |
| PSI state portion | $59, waived for the 8 no-exam states |
| PSI retake if you fail | $51 |
| Connecticut prelicense course | $0, none on any transfer route |
| Fingerprints and background check | $0, neither exists here |
| E&O insurance | $0, not mandated |
| Bond | $0, the bond section is repealed |
| Photo, notary | $0, neither form asks |
| License history, every state you have held | varies, set by the old state |
| TOTAL First year, typical | $670 from the 8, $729 from everywhere else |
| Then: renewal every 2 years | $578, includes the $8 CE processing fee |
Watch out in Connecticut
- Reciprocity gets you in and buys you nothing afterward. DCP says it in terms, that reciprocity applies to obtaining a license and not to maintaining it, so you owe the full 12 hour Connecticut CE cycle including the 3 hour Connecticut license law course, and only Connecticut approved courses count. The exemption is perverse. Someone who sits the state portion inside the cycle owes zero CE that cycle, while someone from the eight no-exam states owes all 12 hours. CE is also due three months before the renewal itself, February 2028 for a May 31, 2028 salesperson renewal.
- The published list may be stale, so verify before you rely on it. Connecticut still lists Ohio, though Ohio retired its reciprocity program effective 2023-12-29, and still lists Indiana, though Indiana says it has no agreements with any state. The page carries no revision date and its outbound links have decayed. New York is already off it, so New Yorkers apply Non-Reciprocal. Treat the list as current for what DCP will accept and stale as a description of other states.
- You cannot work here for a day while pending. There is no temporary permit and no grace period, unlicensed practice is a fine up to $1,000 per violation plus a separate administrative fine up to $5,000, and DCP publishes no processing time at all (confirming, and it is the biggest planning unknown). An incomplete application is deemed withdrawn at six months, and every fee is nonrefundable.
- Mississippi applicants, settle one gap first. The reciprocity page gives Mississippi the no-exam route, but DCP's online instructions list only seven states for the Supervising Broker Form and leave Mississippi out. Assume the form is required and confirm with dcp.licenseservices@ct.gov, which is the working address even though the non-reciprocal form misprints it.
Official links for Connecticut
Keep going
- The real estate planner, which builds a plan across several states at once.
- Errors and omissions insurance by state, the 15 states that mandate it.
- All three professions we cover.
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