Open joint bank account

[poh 139]

17 minutes ago, Ariel Pierini said:

 

Imma ask about the lease! That would be ideal. 

 

About BOA, yes i have a CC on my name, but the letter was on my wife´s name since she asked for the card for me,if that makes sense.

Can I do that even without a ITIN?

Easy fix to this problem is not going around the problem and get an SSN , instead.  Contact SSN office to resolve this. 

Per topic on credit card, it would be very difficult to get any credit card without any credit history.  I can vouch for that for my foreign wife.   One option is to add her as your authorized user on your card.  It's not same as if she had her own but it's close enough to help start building her credit history.  Try applying for big box or department stor credit cards like Gap or Citi/Costco/Sam's credit card or those "build credit" CC with deposit requirements.  Those are little easier to get for those with zero credit history.  

Getting an State ID or learner's driver license is another option 

 

Visa journey has a free step by step guide on this topic put together No seasoned forum users. I don't know why folks don't follow it.  

Edited 10 hours ago by poh

[Ariel Pierini 0]

7 minutes ago, poh said:

Easy fix to this problem is not going around the problem and get an SSN , instead.  Contact SSN office to resolve this. 

Per topic on credit card, it would be very difficult to get any credit card without any credit history.  I can vouch for that for my foreign wife.   One option is to add her as your authorized user on your card.  It's not same as if she had her own but it's close enough to help start building her credit history.  Try applying for big box or department stor credit cards like Gap or Citi/Costco/Sam's credit card or those "build credit" CC with deposit requirements.  Those are little easier to get for those with zero credit history.  

Getting an State ID or learner's driver license is another option 

I can't apply for SSN, that would be the straightforward solution... In your case you came with a K1 visa. I have a CC on my name since I'm an authorized user on my wife's CC, so that automatically gives me a CC on my name. But these kind of CC doesn't help you build credit history as far as I know

[poh 139]

7 minutes ago, Ariel Pierini said:

I can't apply for SSN, that would be the straightforward solution... In your case you came with a K1 visa. I have a CC on my name since I'm an authorized user on my wife's CC, so that automatically gives me a CC on my name. But these kind of CC doesn't help you build credit history as far as I know

Being authorized user shows up in the foreign spouses' credit record.  It's worth something and better than nothing.  It shows you are sharing financial responsibility.  

Edited 10 hours ago by poh

[yuna628 9,975]

4 hours ago, Ariel Pierini said:

Hello folks,

My wife is a US Citizen, and I'm currently in the US, living together, and I'm gathering proofs to show financial comingling to file for AOS, but it is really hard since I don't have neither SSN or ITIN, thus I can't open any joint account, or add my name to the lease or utility bill.

She added me as an authorized user on a Chase CC, but the card only shows my name on it, not both names. She also put me as the main beneficiary (100%) on her retirement accout.

I was just wondering if these would be good proofs. The only point we "lack" proofs is in the financial aspect. Besides that, we  have plenty of pictures together, plane tickets, family gathering, witnesses, etc. to show this is a bona fide marriage, but we are short on the financial end.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Did Chase send a letter or some kind of confirmation correspondence confirming you being added as authorized user? Usually cards will just have the user's name on it, but we took photos of our cards and various account info showing that we are linked.

If I recall rightly, at the time I added my husband to my bank account, he did not yet have his SSN. They accepted his passport, marriage license, and other evidence.

 

Typically a K1 should try to obtain their SSN within two weeks of entering the US, and that opens up a lot of possibilities and ways of securing other items. If you've waited too late or you are adjusting from a different way (it sounds like you came a different way) then your next opportunity is going to be EAD if you're filing for that with AOS. That will also open up the ability to go back to the SSA and also to get state ID etc.

 

As far as other proofs goes.. health insurance, joint taxes, pension/insurance beneficiaries, life insurance, wills/POAs are all good. IIRC, we also had something like a Costco membership printed out where you could see him as a user on the account. We did the same with our phone plan.

 

In the future, once you've got your SSN, getting a credit card without credit history isn't as hard as one might think. Start with a secured credit card like through Discover, and within six months you'll be upgraded and should be good to go. 

Edited 10 hours ago by yuna628

[JeanneAdil 7,467]

1 hour ago, poh said:

typically you should have applied for SSN as soon as you arrived in US after 2 weeks or so which give time for you to be in their computer system.  My k-1 visa wife applied in 2 weeks after arriving US even before getting married.   Visa journey has a recommended guidelines available online. You should follow it. 

he came on tourist visa and needs to wait for the ITIN or the AOS to complete / both take time