Rhode Island to Illinois: home inspector license reciprocity

1. 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($250). Application fee for an initial home inspector license, fixed at $250 by 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1410.400(a)(1). It is the same amount whether you apply by endorsement or by examination, it is not refundable, and it may be paid by card through the Department's ePay site or by check or money order made out to IDFPR. No separate issuance fee is charged when the license is granted..
2. 2Insurance. Carry the required insurance ($100,000). General liability insurance of at least $100,000, required of every applicant and every licensee by 225 ILCS 441/5-50 and 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1410.235. You attest to holding it by signing the application rather than filing a certificate with it, but you must keep a current certificate showing your name exactly as it appears on the license and the dates of cover, produce it when the Department asks, and keep the cover in force for at least one year after the last inspection report you deliver. Where a home inspector entity is involved the policy must at all times cover the entity, its managing home inspector, every licensed inspector and every owner, partner, member, manager, officer, director and employee. Illinois does not require errors and omissions insurance; neither the Act nor the rules mention it..
3. 3License fee. Pay the license or certificate fee ($400). Renewal of the home inspector license, $400 per renewal under 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1410.400(b)(1). Licenses expire on 30 November of even-numbered years, so a license issued part-way through a cycle runs to the next 30 November of an even year. A licensee who misses the date may still renew for two years afterwards by paying all lapsed renewal fees plus a $50 late fee; after two years the license cannot be renewed and the holder must apply as a new applicant..
4. 4Business license. Obtain a business license ($250) (if applicable). A Home Inspector Entity license, $250 initially and $400 per renewal, required where you will provide home inspections through a corporation, limited liability company or partnership. The entity files its own application with its FEIN, its articles of incorporation or organization or other evidence of legal formation, proof of good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State (or a certificate of authority to transact business in Illinois if it was formed elsewhere), the names and license numbers of every officer, director, partner, member and owner, and the name of its designated managing licensed home inspector. It is not required where the business is a sole proprietorship, single-member LLC or single-shareholder corporation owned by the one licensed inspector who performs all its inspections, or an LLC, corporation or partnership co-owned only with that inspector's unlicensed spouse..
5. 5Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam (if applicable). The Illinois home inspector examination, which an endorsement applicant does not sit. It becomes necessary only if the Division does not find your out-of-state credential substantially equivalent, in which case you take the examination route instead. The paper is the National Home Inspector Examination delivered by PSI with an Illinois Law and Rules component inside it, weighted at about 8% alongside Analysis and Reporting at 38%, Building Science at 34% and Business Operations at 20%. It is 200 multiple choice questions in four hours, scale scored from 200 to 800 with 500 as the pass point, and the result appears on screen at the end. Candidates seeking an Illinois license must take it through the state's contracted administrator rather than filing an NHIE pass sat for another state. Retakes are allowed, with a 30-day wait between attempts..
6. 6Exam fee. Pay the exam fee ($125) (if applicable). Examination fee, payable only if you take the examination route. It goes directly to PSI, the Department's designated testing service, not to IDFPR: 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1410.400(f)(3) sets it as the cost of determining eligibility and providing the examination rather than as a fixed figure, and $125 is the amount PSI publishes in the candidate handbook IDFPR links from its own page. It is not refundable or transferable, is forfeited if you do not test within a year of PSI receiving it, and is payable again for each retake. An appointment cancelled at least two days ahead can be rescheduled without losing it..
7. 7Other. Illinois pre-license education, needed only on the examination route: a 60-hour pre-license course plus a pre-license field course containing five field inspections and a final field examination, both taken with an education provider licensed by IDFPR. The Division's own process chart puts the field course at a minimum of 15 hours. The education stays valid for two years after completion, and nobody may sit the examination without evidence that all of it is done. An endorsement applicant does not take it; the pre-license education behind the out-of-state license is one of the things the certification of good standing reports and the Division weighs. (if applicable).
8. 8Background check. Complete a background check. Disclosure rather than fingerprinting. The application asks whether you have ever been convicted of or pled guilty to a misdemeanor or felony, or received an administrative sanction for an offense in any state or jurisdiction, excluding minor traffic matters, and supporting court or agency documents go in with the application where the answer is yes. It also asks about denial or discipline of any professional license, delinquent state taxes or child support, and, for business owners and employers, delinquent workers' compensation obligations. By law the Department may not ask about or consider juvenile adjudications, arrests not followed by a charge or conviction, convictions overturned on appeal, or sealed or expunged records. Neither the endorsement form nor the rules ask for a fingerprint card or a criminal history record check..
9. 9Continuing education. Complete continuing education. 12 hours of approved continuing education in each two-year renewal cycle, of which at least 8 hours must be courses approved as mandatory, plus sexual harassment prevention training, which may itself count toward elective hours when taken through an approved provider. Courses must come from an IDFPR-licensed Home Inspector Education Provider and the course must itself hold a current license. A licensee whose first license term ends within 90 days of issue takes no continuing education for that term, and the Department's 2026 fact sheet states that a license first issued on or after 1 September 2026 needs none for the cycle ending 30 November 2026 and runs instead to 30 November 2028. Continuing education earned in another state can be credited, but it needs an application and a $50 per course processing fee filed before the license expires..

Published fees on this path total $650, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.