You can get a credit card while waiting

[S2N 269]

Just wanted to provide this as a recent reference point: husband and I filed joint 2024 taxes making the 6013(g) election to treat him as a U.S. person for the limited purpose of filing a joint return (does not trigger FBAR when done under 6013(g).)

 

Filed in-person: 4/26/2025

ITIN letter received: 7/3/2025

Applied for Amex Blue Cash Everyday: 7/3/2025

Additional documents requested: 7/3/2025

Amex approved: 7/4/2025

 

Our joke was that there’s was no better way to celebrate the Fourth than opening a credit card.

 

Something worth noting: US law allows credit card applicants to treat their spouses income as theirs so long as they could reasonably access it to pay debts.

 

We provided our joint income as his income, and used my address and phone number.

 

Amex requested that we call after we submitted the application on the website, and the person on the phone told us we’d need to provide his passport, a copy of the ITIN letter, and a signed declaration about his U.S. military status. Did that same day and were approved around 24 hours after uploading. It was helpful he was visiting me in the US for this since he could talk directly with the customer service representative when we had to call. We clarified with them that he still lived in Chile and they confirmed that wasn’t an issue so long as he could provide a passport scan and ITIN.

 

His approval was only in his name and was on a non-secured card. The reason we went for the Amex Blue Cash Everyday is that it has no annual fee and Amex has a practice where at 91 days they will provide a generous credit line increase (up to triple), which also helps building the credit score. They’re also pretty liberal with giving out unsecured credit cards to people with no credit history so long as income is high enough.

 

I know not everyone filed taxes jointly while waiting, but wanted to provide this as a data point for one of the benefits getting an ITIN can provide for people who are waiting on consular processing.

Edited July 6 by S2N

[OldUser 9,786]

Congrats! I know how difficult it is to open first credit card, and it's super helpful for building the credit.

[S2N 269]

38 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Congrats! I know how difficult it is to open first credit card, and it's super helpful for building the credit.

Thanks; I think what got us approved was using my income as his.  Amex is willing to take risks with no credit history if there’s sufficient income, so it worked in our favor.

 

Like you said — it really helps with building the credit history which is the main reason we did it. I know the file jointly vs. file single debate is always difficult for people, so wanted to provide context for why filing jointly with an ITIN can help while you’re waiting. Obviously it’s not for everyone, but it provides a lot of non-tax benefits as well,

[OldUser 9,786]

7 minutes ago, S2N said:

Thanks; I think what got us approved was using my income as his.  Amex is willing to take risks with no credit history if there’s sufficient income, so it worked in our favor.

 

Like you said — it really helps with building the credit history which is the main reason we did it. I know the file jointly vs. file single debate is always difficult for people, so wanted to provide context for why filing jointly with an ITIN can help while you’re waiting. Obviously it’s not for everyone, but it provides a lot of non-tax benefits as well,

File separately (cannot file single when married) only makes sense in very narrow use cases. Most of the time, one gets better tax break and potentially refund when filing jointly. I don't understand why this debate even exists 😃

[S2N 269]

26 minutes ago, OldUser said:

File separately (cannot file single when married) only makes sense in very narrow use cases. Most of the time, one gets better tax break and potentially refund when filing jointly. I don't understand why this debate even exists 😃

 

Yes, but as a prominent member here points out every time this comes up, plenty do since super-technically MFS requires an ITIN too and there are people who don’t feel like paper filing or going through the ITIN process. Why the computer requires a tax ID for people who aren’t eligible without MFJ is beyond me.

 

It’s not materially different from MFS unless you live in a community property state, are eligible for certain anti-poverty credits, or make more than $120k. Your tax advisor isn’t allowed to use the word “materiality” with you until it’s on the third round with the IRS, but you’re allowed to consider it when making choices on your tax filings and the IRS does when taking enforcement action.

 

That being said, I agree with you. It’s almost never beneficial in these cases to file MFS or single. The main reason is you don’t feel like paper filing, but you’ll eventually need to paper file to amend anyway, so that makes no sense to me either.

 

Especially with the access to the U.S. banking and credit system that an ITIN brings. For most people it should be a no brainer, and I think we should talk more about those benefits.

[WeekendPizzaiolo 96]

15 hours ago, S2N said:

Something worth noting: US law allows credit card applicants to treat their spouses income as theirs so long as they could reasonably access it to pay debts.

 

We provided our joint income as his income, and used my address and phone number.

This is very useful information! I did not know this.

 

[top_secret 2,707]

My wife got an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card unsecured on her own credit.  We definitely always list out joint marital income on credit apps. They started her with a credit limit ~$2000 and after, I think, 6 months the gave her back to back $10,000 credit line increases every 3 months, up to almost $40k in a very short period of time for a brand new immigrant.  It's not the best credit card she has as far as rewards and general terms, but definitely fantastic for building a credit score 

[S2N 269]

14 hours ago, top_secret said:

It's not the best credit card she has as far as rewards and general terms, but definitely fantastic for building a credit score 

Yeah, it’s definitely not the best rewards card but we were more concerned about getting an unsecured card in his name to build his credit while he was waiting on the CR-1 process. No annual fee and friendly to people with no credit history was high on the list… plus I got a referral bonus of 15,000 Amex points!