I am on an L1 visa and arrived in the US 1.5 months ago. I just got approved for a Chase Freedom Rise card to start building credit, but I want a travel-focused card for my family of three. What are the best credit card options for someone who is new to US credit?
You can use your foreign credit history to get a US travel card through the American Express Global Card Relationship program if you already hold an Amex card in your home country. However, you cannot use Nova Credit to get an Amex card, as their partnership ended in 2025.
You do not necessarily have to wait a full year for other premium travel cards—expats report successfully getting cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred with just eight months of credit history.
The Nova Credit and American Express partnership ended in 2025, so you cannot use that service to apply for an Amex travel card. If you want a US American Express card, the Global Transfer program is your best route.
If you apply for a US Amex card without providing a tax ID, the account builds history with American Express internally, but it does not report to Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. You cannot attach an {"term": "itin", "text": "ITIN"} to that account later to make it report to the {"term": "credit-bureaus", "text": "credit bureaus"}.
There is no strict one-year minimum credit history requirement for all premium travel cards. While it takes time to build a score—up to six months or more for some systems, and as little as one month for others—expats report being approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred at eight months.
