What the national schools can and cannot do in Rhode Island
Rhode Island is the rare state where the answer to "which online school should I use?" is that for your 45 hours, none of them can. The two schools below are worth knowing for exam prep and for the continuing education you will owe at renewal — but your pre-licensing course has to come from a DBR-approved provider teaching live.
Colibri Real Estate
- Sells a 24-hour Rhode Island CE package, which is the full amount you will owe at your first renewal — and Rhode Island gives new licensees no exemption from it
- Carries a three-hour lead hazard course, one of the CORE subjects DBR counts toward the nine CORE hours inside those 24
- Rhode Island exam prep covering the licensing exam, useful because the state portion is 50 questions with no partial credit for a strong national score
- On DBR's approved school list for continuing education, so the hours will be accepted when you renew
The CE Shop
- Rhode Island continuing education approved by DBR, so it counts toward the 24 hours you need every two years
- CE is sold as single courses as well as packages, which helps if you are topping up specific CORE subjects rather than starting from zero
- Its Rhode Island exam-prep product is named for the Pearson VUE national portion — check whether state-portion practice is included before you rely on it
- Self-paced online, which is fine for CE and exam prep; it is the format Rhode Island will not accept for pre-licensing
How to get your Rhode Island licence
Six steps. Two of them have to happen before you can even file, which is not how most states work.
Take 45 hours in a real classroom
In person, or in a live-virtual class where an instructor is teaching in real time and you are on camera. Regulation 2.7(D) prohibits on-demand and pre-recorded instruction for pre-licensing, so a self-paced course will not qualify no matter how many hours it claims. A Rhode Island clock hour is 50 minutes.
Add the three-hour lead certificate
A separate Lead Poisoning and Lead Hazard Mitigation certificate is required on the application. It is not part of the education rule, which is exactly why people miss it and get their application returned.
Pass both exam portions with Pearson VUE
The national and Rhode Island portions are booked separately, paid for separately and scored separately at 70 each. Bring your education completion certificate to the test centre — Rhode Island candidates are required to produce it on the day.
Line up a broker and E&O cover
The application needs a sworn statement from the principal broker who intends to employ you, plus a certificate of errors and omissions insurance. Both have to be in hand while you are still unlicensed, so start on them during the course rather than after it.
Get a BCI background check
From the Rhode Island Attorney General's office. Non-residents also need a background check from their home state, a letter of good standing, and a power of attorney appointing the DBR Director as agent for service of process.
File within a year of passing
Pearson VUE holds your passing results for one year. Miss that window and you sit the exams again — and if you pass one portion and stall on the other for more than a year, the portion you passed expires too.
From the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, its salesperson application and approved course list (13 August 2026), 230-RICR-30-20-2 §§ 2.2, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.28 and 2.30, R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 5-20.5-3, 5-20.5-4, 5-20.5-6 and 5-20.5-11, and the Rhode Island real estate candidate handbook published by Pearson VUE (January 2026), verified August 2026. The background-check fee is set by the Attorney General rather than DBR and is not printed on the application, so we have not published a figure.
Rhode Island FAQs
Can I do my Rhode Island pre-licensing course online?
Only if it is live. Rhode Island's regulation defines a classroom as either a physical room with an instructor present or "a live-virtual classroom with interactive instruction between instructor and students," and states plainly that for pre-licensing courses "on-demand and pre-recorded instruction is prohibited." A scheduled Zoom-style class with your camera on counts. A self-paced course you work through at midnight does not. This is the single most expensive thing to get wrong here, because the course is non-refundable by the time you find out.
How many hours does Rhode Island require?
Forty-five classroom hours, set by both statute and regulation. Note that a Rhode Island clock hour is defined as at least 50 minutes of instruction, not 60 — so 45 hours of class time is not 45 hours on a wall clock. Those hours expire: classroom hours completed more than two years before the date of your application will not be counted.
What is the three-hour lead certificate, and do I really need it?
Yes. Alongside your 45-hour certificate, the application requires a separate certificate of completion for three hours of Lead Poisoning and Lead Hazard Mitigation training. It is easy to miss because it appears on DBR's application checklist rather than in the education regulation, so someone who reads only the rules arrives three hours short. Reciprocal and non-resident applicants owe it too.
Do I need continuing education for my first renewal?
Yes, and in full. Rhode Island has no exemption or reduction for newly licensed salespeople — the only exemptions in the rule are for licences originally issued before December 1984 and for attorneys admitted to the Rhode Island bar. So your first renewal carries the same 24 hours as everyone else's, including at least nine CORE hours of which at least three must be fair housing. Several guides describe the CORE portion as six hours; the regulation says nine, and coming up short means you cannot renew.
When does my licence expire?
Two years from the date it was issued. Older guides still say Rhode Island renews on 1 May of even-numbered years, and that was true — for licences issued before 1 January 2020. Anything issued since then runs on its own anniversary. DBR treats its renewal notice as a courtesy, so not receiving one is not a defence, and letting a licence sit expired for more than a year means retaking the examination rather than simply paying a late fee.