How to Build a US Credit History Without a Visa: Chase, ITIN, and Amex Global Transfer

You can build a US credit history without a visa by opening a Chase account with an ITIN instead of a Social Security Number, then pushing your credit score above 700 through an American Express card with Global Transfer.

In short

• Opening a Chase account doesn’t require a visa or SSN — a US address is enough.
• Only a credit card builds credit score: a debit account has no effect on it.
• Amex Global Transfer moves a European credit history into the US and pushes the score above 700 points almost instantly.
• The Amex card has to be issued directly by American Express — a licensed Georgian card doesn’t work for Global Transfer.
• Chase checks not just the score but account activity too: six months with no money movement is a common reason for a business card denial.

Do you need a visa and SSN to open a Chase account

You don’t need a US visa to open a Chase account, and you don’t need a Social Security Number (SSN) either. Instead, the bank requires a US address: a foreign address won’t work for opening an account — it has to be a US address.

You don’t need a US visa to open a Chase account, and you don’t need a Social Security Number (SSN) either.

Chase lets you open either a regular personal checking account or a business account — for example, under an LLC. These are two separate lines, personal and corporate, and both are available without a visa or SSN as long as the address requirement is met.

What ITIN is and how it connects to your credit score

An ITIN is a US tax number for foreign nationals, and it’s worth providing separately when opening a Chase account, even if the bank doesn’t strictly require it just to open the account. The account will open without an ITIN, but it’s nearly useless for building credit history: the credit score is tied specifically to this number. Credit bureaus document all financial behavior data under the ITIN — how a person handles money and how responsibly they meet their obligations.

Three credit bureaus track this metric — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Through them, you can check at any time whether your score has reached 700, 720, or 750 points — thresholds considered significant when assessing creditworthiness. A debit account with access to your own money has no effect on this history by itself: building a credit score requires an actual credit card, not a debit card.

What credit score do you need for Chase cards

Getting a Chase credit card usually requires a credit score above 700 — that’s the benchmark that’s emerged in practice. The maximum score in the US system is considered to be 850, and a range of 700–720 and above is already seen as a very good result.

Chase sets that particular bar for a reason: among US banks, it’s considered one of the most demanding toward borrowers. At the same time, it’s regarded as one of the most reliable — with a solid capital base and a stable position among US banks — which explains the higher entry threshold for its credit cards.

Amex Global Transfer: how to raise your score fast without a visa

A debit card and the ability to spend your own money on an account do nothing for your credit score — growing it requires an actual credit card. The fastest route in the US is Amex Global Transfer: moving an existing American Express card from Germany, Austria, or Switzerland over to a US account.

1. Get an Amex card in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland — before moving to the US.
2. Before applying, check that this specific card supports Global Transfer: not every Amex card has this feature.
3. After moving, update your address in Amex to your new US residence.
4. Receive a second, US-issued card — the original European card keeps working in parallel.
5. The new card is automatically linked to the ITIN, and the score rises right after the transfer.

In one case reviewed, this kind of transfer instantly pushed the credit score above 700 points, and that’s not considered unusual for this approach. Because of this effect, it’s worth getting an Amex card in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland in advance — before leaving for the US, while it’s still possible to apply from your current place of residence.

this kind of transfer instantly pushed the credit score above 700 points

Why an Amex card from Georgia won’t work for Global Transfer

Amex can also be obtained in Georgia — that option exists. But the Georgian card is issued under license: it’s not issued by American Express itself, but by a partner bank using the Amex brand under an agreement. Because of this, the card doesn’t support Global Transfer — there’s no way to move its credit history into a US Amex account.

For Global Transfer, the card has to be issued directly by American Express, not through a licensed partner. Germany is an example of a country where this works: Amex issues cards there itself, with no intermediary bank. So before leaving, it’s worth checking not just whether you have an Amex card, but exactly who issued it — American Express itself, or a partner bank under license.

Amex card: direct issuance vs. partner license

Criterion	Issued directly by American Express (example — Germany)	Issued under license by a partner bank (example — Georgia)
Global Transfer support	Yes	No
Credit history transfer to the US	Possible	Not possible
Who issues the card	American Express itself	Partner bank under agreement

Before leaving, it’s worth checking exactly who issued the card, not just whether it carries the Amex brand.

Secured cards and a separate credit score for an LLC

A secured card is a credit card backed by collateral: the holder puts down a deposit and gets a credit limit within that amount. The deposit is usually a few hundred dollars, but the card still functions as a full credit card — it’s the one that actually grows your credit score, not just confirms your ability to pay.

You can build a score with just one personal card — a separate business account isn’t required. But for anyone running a business, forming an LLC and building a separate credit history under it gives a real advantage: the business score exists independently of the personal one.

That independence isn’t absolute, though: to even start building history under the LLC, you need a good personal credit score first — without it, the bank won’t approve a business account. The personal score, then, remains the entry point, even once the company goes on to build its own credit reputation separately from the owner.

The best tool for this is business cards specifically: for anyone with regular business expenses, they offer more room to build history than personal cards do.

Which business cards earn the most bonus points

Business cards are considered the best for earning points, not personal ones: they’re used to pay for ongoing business expenses — Google and Facebook ads, travel, hotels, restaurants, software — and earn bank bonus points in return. Among the most popular are four cards: Amex Gold (not Platinum), Chase Ink, Chase Sapphire, and a Capital One card.

Facebook or Google ad spend earns a boosted rate — 4 times the usual points. Amex caps this bonus: by observation, the maximum applies to roughly up to $50,000 in annual spend. Chase cards have no such ceiling — points on ad spend accrue with no cap on the amount.

The difference is clear in a business with $100,000 in annual spend on advertising, marketing, software, travel, hotels, and restaurants. Spread across four cards, that comes to 25,000 points on a base rate, but once category multipliers kick in, the total climbs to 78,000 points.

What those points can buy

78,000 points is enough for business- and first-class flights:

• Frankfurt to New York, business class: 62,000 points;
• New York to Dubai, first class: 68,000 points;
• New York to Tokyo, business class: 70,000 points;
• New York to Singapore, business class: 75,000 points.

At that level of spending, a flight like this is affordable every few weeks — especially useful for anyone who travels between countries constantly.

Why Chase can deny a business card even with a good score

A telling case: an applicant opened a Chase account and built a positive credit score through Amex Global Transfer, but had no SSN — only an ITIN. The problem turned out not to be the score, but something else: both accounts, personal and LLC, had sat nearly inactive for six months. When a bank employee pulled up the profile before the application, the screen showed no activity at all — no deposits, no spending — and immediately flagged the card application as a concern, despite the strong score.

the screen showed no activity at all — no deposits, no spending — and immediately flagged the card application as a concern, despite the strong score

The reason is that Chase checks not just the credit score, but also activity on the client’s own accounts. The bank wants to see responsible money management over a sustained period — that is, regular deposits and withdrawals, not just a one-off good score with no money movement.

The application went in two steps. First, a personal card: it was approved right away, with a limit of a few thousand dollars that could be raised later with regular use. Then came an attempt at the Chase Ink business card (a step below Chase Sapphire) — here the system neither approved nor declined the application outright, but flagged it for additional review. By observation, a large share of such reviews end in denial, and the reason is usually the same: the LLC and its Chase accounts hadn’t been used.

Each such attempt counts as a hard inquiry — a hard pull on the credit history that gets recorded with the credit bureaus and can briefly lower the score a little. So it’s not worth submitting applications back to back without a plan: better to build up account activity first, then try the business card again.

How to keep an account active to avoid a repeat denial

To avoid another denial, cards and the US account need regular use — the bank has to see money moving through the account, even in small amounts.

1. Use the limit only partially. If a card’s credit limit is, say, $1,000, it’s best not to spend more than $500 a month — maxing out the limit every time isn’t a good idea, but not using the card at all isn’t an option either.
2. Pay off the balance in full every month. The best way is to set up autopay — an automatic deduction from a bank account — so the card gets paid off on time with no risk of a late payment.
3. Keep every card active. If you have several cards, all of them need to be used — even if just a little. A card that sits unused doesn’t help grow a credit score no matter how long it stays in a wallet.
4. Put small recurring payments on the card. Subscriptions and small everyday purchases — coffee, for example — are enough to keep a card counted as active. Nothing more is needed for that purpose: overusing credit hurts the score too.

Building a credit score takes time — there’s no single move that speeds it up, only consistency.

How to keep a Chase account active

• Use the credit limit only partiallyrequiredno more than 50% of the limit per month
• Set up autopayrequiredto clear the balance in full every month
• Keep every card activerequiredeven with small spending
• Put small recurring payments on the cardsubscriptions, everyday purchases
• Don’t overload the card with excessive spendingoverusing credit hurts the score too

Frequently asked questions

Can you open a Chase account while living outside the US, without visiting the country

No — the bank requires a US address to open an account, so doing it remotely while physically abroad isn’t possible: a foreign address doesn’t work at all, you need a US residential address.

Can you build a credit history if getting an Amex card in Europe before the move isn’t an option

There’s still the secured card route: you put down a deposit of a few hundred dollars, get a credit limit against it, and the card works as a full credit card, building the credit score — it’s just slower than transferring an existing history through Global Transfer.