Texas has a reciprocity provision, and it is one sentence long. Insurance Code § 6002.160 says the department MAY WAIVE any license requirement for an applicant who holds a license issued by another state that has license requirements substantially equivalent to those of Texas. Read what that does and does not give you. It is discretionary — may waive, not shall. It is assessed against the other state’s REQUIREMENTS rather than against your own record in it. And it reaches “license requirements”, a phrase the statute uses and does not define. Which parts of an application count as license requirements for this purpose is not fixed anywhere in these sources, so the sensible move is to ask the State Fire Marshal’s Office what a waiver would cover rather than to assume the answer either way.

The firm side runs on its own track and, for anyone arriving from out of state to start a business rather than take a job, it is the longer one. 28 TAC § 34.613 wants a firm application signed by the sole proprietor, by each partner of a partnership, or by an officer of a corporation; evidence of compliance with the Assumed Business or Professional Name Act for an applicant using an assumed name; and for a corporation, the name of every shareholder owning more than 25% of the shares issued, the corporate taxpayer identification number, the charter number, and a copy of the corporate charter — or, for a foreign corporation, a copy of its Texas certificate of authority. Insurance Code § 6002.153 then requires evidence of the general liability policy Chapter 3 set out before a certificate can be issued at all.

The two tracks meet at a point worth planning around. A licensee needs a registered firm before the application can be signed, and under Insurance Code § 6002.154 a firm needs at least one employed fire alarm technician, residential fire alarm superintendent, or fire alarm planning superintendent — so the first licensee at a brand-new firm and the firm’s own certificate depend on each other. Insurance Code § 6002.152 adds that every separate office location beyond the one on the firm’s certificate needs a branch office certificate of its own. Someone opening in Texas is therefore running an individual application and a firm application together, and neither completes in isolation.