§33-12-12. Nonresident licensing.

(a) Unless denied licensure pursuant to section twenty-four, a nonresident person shall receive a nonresident producer license if:

(1) The person is currently licensed as a resident and in good standing in his or her home state;

(2) The person has submitted the proper request for licensure and has paid the fees required by section thirteen, article three of this chapter;

(3) The nonresident person holds a similar license that is awarded on the same basis in the nonresident's home state and for the same line or lines of authority applied for in this state;

(4) The person has submitted or transmitted to the Insurance Commissioner the application for licensure that the person submitted to his or her home state, or in lieu of the same, a completed uniform application; and

(5) The person's home state awards nonresident producer licenses to residents of this state on the same basis.

(b) An insurance agency may qualify as a nonresident if the agency has its principal office located in another state.

(c) The Insurance Commissioner may verify the producer's licensing status through the producer database maintained by the national association of Insurance Commissioners, its affiliates or subsidiaries.

(d) A nonresident producer who moves from one state to another state or a resident producer who moves from this state to another state shall file a change of address and provide certification from the new resident state within thirty days of the change of legal residence. No fee or license application is required.

(e) If the insurance department of the nonresident insurance producer's resident state suspends, terminates, or revokes the producer's insurance license in that state, the nonresident insurance producer shall notify the commissioner and shall return the West Virginia nonresident license.

(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, an individual licensed as a surplus lines producer in his or her home state shall receive a nonresident surplus lines producer license pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Except as to subsection (a), nothing in this section otherwise amends or supercedes any provision of sections one through fourteen, article twelve-c of this chapter.

(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, an individual licensed as a limited line credit insurance or other type of limited lines producer in his or her home state shall receive a nonresident limited lines producer license, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, granting the same scope of authority as granted under the license issued by the producer's home state. For the purposes of subsection (e), section twelve of this article, limited line insurance is any authority granted by the home state which restricts the authority of the license to less than the total authority prescribed in the associated major lines pursuant to subdivisions (1) through (6), subsection (a), section nine of this article.