Can You Actually Bring Your Foreign Credit History With You?
For a U.S. card specifically, only two issuers currently confirm it on their own pages: Chase, for Canada and UK history only, and American Express, for 12 countries. Most cards marketed as newcomer- or ITIN-friendly — OpenSky, Self, Petal, Zolve, and most others — use a completely different path: building a U.S. file from zero, not translating a foreign one.
Last updated 2026-07-22Country lists change without notice
Every issuer here controls its own supported-country list, and at least one (Scotiabank) says so explicitly on its own page. Two of the counts in the matrix below were corrected during this build after the original research undercounted them against a live check of the issuer's own page — treat any country list, including this one, as a snapshot to re-verify before applying.
See the full matrix →Two different paths get called "newcomer-friendly"
A Nova Credit pathway translates a credit history you already built in another country into a U.S.-equivalent score, so an issuer can evaluate you without months of waiting. An ITIN-friendly or no-credit-check card instead builds a new U.S. file from scratch, usually with a security deposit or a soft-pull preapproval, regardless of what credit history you have elsewhere. Both are real, useful paths — but they solve different problems, and a card that's genuinely excellent at one is often not doing the other at all.
Why a partnership announcement isn't the same as a live pathway
Nova Credit has announced partnerships with more companies than currently have a live application integration. Nova Credit's own site names Petal specifically as a partner that isn't yet using its data in the card application — a useful reminder that a company being a listed 'partner' doesn't mean the feature is live for you today. Always check the specific issuer's own current application or FAQ page, not a press release or a vendor's partner list, before counting on a pathway.
It matters which country you're moving to, not just from
Several confirmed Nova pathways aren't U.S. cards at all — HSBC UK and HSBC Singapore serve newcomers to the UK and Singapore, and Scotiabank, BMO, Rogers Bank, and RBC serve newcomers to Canada. If you're specifically looking for a U.S. credit card, Chase and American Express are currently the only two confirmed options; the others are only relevant if you're moving to that specific country instead.
Step-by-step
American Express's newcomer application is currently the broadest confirmed U.S. pathway. You'll still need an SSN or ITIN to apply — Nova Credit replaces the credit-history requirement, not the identity requirement.
Chase's Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex is a second confirmed option, though it's limited to those two specific products and those two specific countries — it doesn't extend to Chase's other cards.
Don't wait on a Nova partnership that may not exist for your country. The realistic path is the same one most newcomers use regardless of foreign credit history: a secured card or credit-builder account that reports to all three bureaus, building a U.S. file over the next 6-12 months.
Check the matrix below directly — HSBC UK, HSBC Singapore, Scotiabank, BMO, Rogers Bank, and RBC each have their own confirmed pathway and country list, separate from anything relevant to a U.S. application.
Every verdict and country count above is sourced to an issuer's own page or Nova Credit's own current partner description — not restated from a single research pass, and corrected in two places after a live check.
Foreign Credit History Portability Tracker →Frequently asked questions
Does using a Nova Credit pathway hurt my credit in my home country?
It depends on the issuer and country — some use a soft inquiry that doesn't affect your foreign credit record, others use a hard inquiry that can. American Express, for example, uses a hard inquiry for a few specific countries and soft for the rest. Check the specific issuer's own FAQ for your country before applying.
What if my country isn't listed anywhere in the matrix?
Then no confirmed Nova pathway currently exists for you, as of this check. That doesn't mean you're out of options — it means the no-SSN/ITIN-friendly secured-card path is the realistic starting point instead of foreign-credit translation.