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E&G

Is it possible to get a credit card while doing an AOS?

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Discover It Secured card is really good for building credit starting from nothing.  It has no particularly onerous terms or fees like some other secured cards do.  It has rewards and they would generally convert it to a regular unsecured card after 6 months so you can get your deposit back. 

 

There are plenty of other secured options but check the terms carefully since some of them are predatory, have high fees or don't offer a path to being unsecured.

 

When you are reporting your income on credit applications it is totally allowed to report your combined household income rather than just personal income.

 

Be careful not to run up allot of hard credit checks by getting turned down. Capital One, Discover, Amex, Credit One, Well Fargo and some others all have pre-approval sites where could check if they would offer you an unsecured card without doing a hard pull on your credit report.

 

Some of the fintech companies like Chime, Cred.ai and others offer gimmicky accounts that function like a checking account with a debit card but report as a credit card on credit reports so they are useful for building credit.

 

I agree with everyone else that becoming an authorized user on someone else's account is usually the best and easiest first step .

Wife and Stepdaughter                                                                            

  • December 17, 2020:  Married in Costa Rica
  • March 08, 2021: Filed l-130s Online
  • March 09, 2021: NOA1
  • April 26, 2021: NOA2, I-130s Approved
  • April 30, 2021: NVC Received
  • May 01, 2021: Pay AOS and IV Bills
  • May 06, 2021: Submit AOS, Financial Docs and DS-260s
  • May 14, 2021: Submit Civil Docs for Stepdaughter
  • May 21, 2021: Submit Civil Docs for Wife
  • June 25, 2021: NVC review for Stepdaughter, RFE submit additional Doc
  • July 08, 2021: Wife Documentarily Qualified by NVC
  • August 31, 2021: Stepdaughter Documentarily Qualified by NVC
  • September 15, 2021: Received Interview Date from NVC, October 05, 2021
  • September 22, 2021: Passed physicals at Saint Luke's Extension Clinic
  • October 05, 2021: Interview at US Embassy Manila. Verbally approved by US Consul. Positive interview experience.
  • October 05, 2021: CEAC status changed to "Issued"
  • October 07, 2021: Passports tracking for delivery on 2GO Courier website
  • October 08, 2021: Passports with visas delivered.  "Visas on hand"
  • October 08, 2021: Paid Immigrant Fee
  • October 12, 2021: Temporary CFO Certificates Received
  • October 26, 2021 POE arrival at LAX
  • November 02, 2021 Social Security Cards arrive in mail
  • January 31, 2022: USCIS Status changed to "Card Is Being Produced"
  • February 04, 2022: USCIS Status changed to "Card Was Mailed To Me"
  • February 07, 2022: Green cards received. 

 

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Germany
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I've had an Amex in Germany for a few years and was able to open an US Amex card under my name without a SSN just last month using the Global Card Relationship link that was mentioned in a previous post (https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/global-card-relationship/). There was an option for people who don't have a SSN to put in their passport number instead.

Edited by cicgio
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19 hours ago, JaredShadkin said:


Visa and Mastercard allow you to add Authorized Users without their social security numbers. American Express, on the other hand, requires a SSN number. So currently, they can have their own card (but tied to yours). 

 

If the immigrant did not receive a SSN prior to filing AOS by requesting one at a social security office, you’ll have to wait until the immigrant receives one for them to apply for their own cards.

 

My wife started as an AU on some of my cards while waiting for AOS. She now has 3 cards of her own and I am an AU on one of her cards. She chuckles at that. She now has a 750+ credit score after only 2 years of having her own cards.

Finally done...

 

 

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Georgia
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19 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

This is what we did.  I added wife as authorized user to my existing Citibank CC.  She then set up an account on CreditKarma.  In about 3 or 4 months, she had an established credit report. 

Do you know if one needs to call CC issuers to link the SSN (speaking about authorized users) after they get the SSN assigned? Or perhaps it automatically happens somehow?

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The way I got my credit history started was purchasing a car on finance and having my ex-husband co-sign the loan, though I paid it all off myself. She will need an SSN to do that. The dealership I went to said I was like "a ghost in the system", lol. 

 

After a few months of on-time payments, I was able to successfully apply for my first credit card with Capital One. 

ROC from CR-1 visa (Green Card expiration date was Nov 24th 2016)

 

Link to the evidence I submitted. Be sure to send evidence spanning your entire marriage (especially for K-1) or as far back as you can. Just one or two bank statements will not cut it. I primarily focused on the two years of living here since I came in on a CR-1. If you don't have the fundamentals (i.e. joint accounts/policies), you can explain why in the covering letter. E.g. "While we do not have joint utilities, we both contribute to them from our joint bank account".

 

September 26th 2016: I-751 package sent to CSC

September 28th 2016: Package delivered
September 30th 2016: Check cashed
October 3rd 2016: NOA1 received with receipt date of 09/28/16
November 3rd 2016: Biometrics received with appointment date of 11/14/16.
November 14th 2016: Attended biometrics appointment
October 30th 2017: Infopass appointment to get I-551 stamp
February 26th 2018: I-751 case number (aka the NOA1 receipt number) becomes trackable
March 14th 2018: Submitted service request due to being outside of processing time.

March 15th 2018: ROC approved. 535 days (1 year, 5 months and 17 days)

March 29th 2018: Card being produced

April 4th 2018: Card mailed out

April 6th 2018: Card in hand. Has incorrect "resident since" date. Submitted service request on I-751 case (typographical error on permanent resident card) and an I-90 online.

April 2018 - August 7th 2018: Tons of service requests, emails and now senator involvement to get my corrected green card back because what the heck, USCIS. Also some time in May I sent a letter to Potomac telling them I want to withdraw my I-90 since CSC were handling it.

August 8th 2018: Card in production thanks to the direct involvement of Senator Sherrod Brown's team

August 13th 2018: Card mailed

August 15th 2018: Card in hand with correct date. :joy:

October 31st 2018: Potomac sends out a notice stating they have closed out my I-90 per my request. Yay for no duplicate card drama.

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Philippines
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On 2/17/2024 at 5:12 PM, E&G said:

We are in our AOS process right now.

Is it possible for the immigrant (greencard application) to sign up for a credit card? 

 

What are the processes? Does she need to establish credit and sign up for creditkarma or something first? Because she has no credit history in the US.

The day after my Wife got her SSN, we got her an unsecured credit card in her own name, without any credit score.  This was done by applying for a student Discover card.  You just need to submit some sort of "proof", such as an admission letter within the past year from a school. 

 

We tried adding her SSN to my Amex (she is an authorized user), but they refused without a State ID because they said they couldn't verify the SSN ...  Note: Amex will accept a foreign passport in lieu of an SSN for an authorized user. Will try again now that we updated her SSN after getting the EAD last week,

 

Note, I know that Discover did an automatic SSN validation as it initially failed with married name, had to change it to the maiden name, same as her SSN, it then passed the validation test. I don't know why it failed with AMEX

Edited by W199
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Filed: AOS (pnd) Country: Germany
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On 2/18/2024 at 11:20 AM, cicgio said:

I've had an Amex in Germany for a few years and was able to open an US Amex card under my name without a SSN just last month using the Global Card Relationship link that was mentioned in a previous post (https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/global-card-relationship/). There was an option for people who don't have a SSN to put in their passport number instead.

Were you able to open the account without having a job? I've had a German Amex for years and plan on using the global program as well, but it was my impression that I would first need a job in the US?

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On 2/18/2024 at 8:20 AM, cicgio said:

I've had an Amex in Germany for a few years and was able to open an US Amex card under my name without a SSN just last month using the Global Card Relationship link that was mentioned in a previous post (https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/global-card-relationship/). There was an option for people who don't have a SSN to put in their passport number instead.

That's a very good suggestion. That's how I got my first card in the US in fact 😃

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4 hours ago, Lara SD said:

Were you able to open the account without having a job? I've had a German Amex for years and plan on using the global program as well, but it was my impression that I would first need a job in the US?

Why not just try? I had a job when I applied though.

 

What exactly happened - I applied, got denied, talked to their support and explained I had existing relationship with them in another country. Got approved.

Edited by OldUser
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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Germany
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23 hours ago, Lara SD said:

Were you able to open the account without having a job? I've had a German Amex for years and plan on using the global program as well, but it was my impression that I would first need a job in the US?

Yes, I didn't have a job in the US when I applied and was approved immediately. It asks about your income, but as far as I understand you can include your spouse's income.

Edited by cicgio
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Filed: AOS (pnd) Country: Germany
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32 minutes ago, cicgio said:

Yes, I didn't have a job in the US when I applied and was approved immediately. It asks about your income, but as far as I understand you can include your spouse's income.

Thank you, that's very helpful!

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Georgia
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Update: My mother whom I added as an authorized user on 3 of my CCs got her SSN a week or two ago. I called CC companies and added her SSN to her profiles. Her FICO score shows 770 now and she got approved for the highest CC tier the next day with high CL. I figured I'd share this if it helps someone else down the road.

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