Tennessee licenses private investigators through the Department of Commerce & Insurance, and an individual PI is no longer required to be affiliated with a private investigation company (TN Commerce & Insurance). There's a sponsored apprentice route in, an exam through PSI, and no bond or insurance requirement.
Tennessee puts the experience requirement on the company, not the individual — you can work under a licensed firm or operate as a sole proprietor.
Enter as a sponsored apprentice (up to 6 months, sponsored by a licensed company and under the direct supervision of a licensed investigator) or an employee of a licensed company. No experience requirement for the individual license — you pass the exam and clear the background check.
Open a company by qualifying its agent: 2,000 hours of verifiable investigative experience, OR one year of related experience or education, plus the company exam and entity filings.
The same baseline applies to individual and company applicants (TCA 62-26-206/207).
A key nuance: the individual PI license has no experience requirement — the gate is on the company's qualifying agent.
For the individual PI license, there is no experience requirement — qualification is age, character, a background check, and the exam.
For the investigations company license, the qualifying agent (or each individual applicant) must have 2,000 hours of compensated, verifiable investigative experience, OR one year of applicable related experience or education approved by the commission. So the experience-or-substitution test lives in the "open your own company" track, not the "get licensed as an investigator" track.
Tennessee uses PSI as its testing vendor: applicants must "successfully complete the Private Investigator examination through PSI," and a separate investigations company examination applies to company licenses (TN Commerce & Insurance). Confirm the current exam format and passing score in the PSI exam bulletin linked from the Department's page.
Tennessee charges no bond or insurance; budget the application, fingerprints, and PSI exam. Company fees scale with size. Confirm current amounts with the commission.
| Item | Typical | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Individual application | $150 | Rule 1175-01-.11; paid with the license fee as one $250 application (fee schedule). |
| Fingerprints (IdentoGO) | Varies (set by the vendor/provider) | TBI/FBI background check. |
| Exam (PSI) | Set by the testing vendor (PSI) | Paid by the applicant to the testing organization (Rule 1175-01-.04(1)). |
| Individual license | $100 | Rule 1175-01. |
| Bond / insurance | $0 | None required. |
| Individual total | $250 + exam & prints | Company license runs $375 (sole practitioner) to $1,500 (more than 5 employees). |
State fees are set by commission rule (Rule 1175-01) — confirm the current schedule with the Department of Commerce & Insurance. Note: there is no PI bond or liability-insurance mandate in Tennessee, contrary to some third-party listings.
Affiliate with a licensed investigations company (as an employee, or as a sponsored apprentice), or plan to operate as a sole proprietor.
Submit your application, and complete the IdentoGO background check.
Pass the individual Private Investigator exam through PSI.
Work as an employee of a licensed company or as a sole proprietor; apprentices work only under direct supervision.
Meet the 2,000-hour / 1-year qualifying-agent test and pass the company exam.
Licenses run two years; complete 12 CE hours per cycle.
A license lets you work — it does not lift the privacy laws that bind every investigator. These are the lines that get people in trouble, license or not.
The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) restricts motor-vehicle records, and recording laws govern when you can capture a conversation. Before you record anyone or pull personal data, read our recording-consent guide — it applies to a licensed investigator exactly as written.
Tennessee's apprentice path is the realistic on-ramp — and the individual license needs no prior experience.
Enter as an apprentice. The 6-month sponsored, supervised path lets a newcomer get licensed and working under a company without prior experience.
Remember where the experience gate is. You don't need 2,000 hours to be an investigator in Tennessee — only to qualify your own company later.
Market reality. Pay varies widely by specialty and client base — consult the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for current figures rather than any single number.
The rule we never bend: no state requires an LLC to be a private investigator — not Tennessee, not anywhere. An LLC is liability protection, not a licensing requirement.
Tennessee no longer requires an individual PI to be affiliated with a company, and a sole practitioner can hold a company license (Rule 1175-01-.04(2); sole-practitioner fee tier).
Working as an apprentice or employee under someone else's company requires no entity of your own. If you open your own investigations company, you can hold it as a sole proprietor or through an entity such as an LLC or corporation. Choose an LLC for liability protection if it fits; it's recommended, not required.
For the honest version of when forming one actually helps a solo operator, see our breakdown of when an LLC is worth it.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Fees and exam details change, and Tennessee's polygraph-examiner regulation is being repealed in 2026 (the private-investigation program continues) — confirm current requirements with the commission, and consult a Tennessee attorney for advice specific to your situation. Smoothquill points you to the real authorities; it doesn't replace them.
Tennessee's apprentice route gets you licensed without experience; the company license comes later. Start with what the work actually looks like.
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