• TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      It is if your country isn’t on the western credit based system… A recent immigrant isn’t going to have a loan or mortgage, and most often are in low income jobs, or even paid under the table.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Nah, my SIL is Chinese with a green card and has credit cards and even a mortgage. Arrived in 2017.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          Sister in law… Which means she is married to an American. I didn’t say it was impossible, just very difficult for most immigrants.

            • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              But, I’m guessing that’s not what’s happening in your situation. If that were the case wouldn’t you have just claimed that you or your brother were immigrants?

              And my point still stands… Just because your sister in-law or brother have green cards and have access to credit cards doesn’t mean that’s the norm for most immigrants. It also doesn’t mean that it wasn’t difficult for your sister in-law.

              You literally don’t have a credit rating when you come here as an immigrant. So unless you have someone willing to co-sign and accept potential liability, then you’re not going to be able to borrow anything.

              I’ve heard discovery has a specific card that a lot of middle/upper class. immigrants apply for, but even then it’s still hard to get a line of credit unless you have a fairly well established work history.

              I think a lot of people on Lemmy aren’t really exposed to many immigrant communities. It seems like most of you think the majority of immigrants in the country come from middle or upper class families, most likely because your idea of an immigrant is someone who came here for school.

              That may be more common nowadays due to the rising importance of sponsorships for green cards, but nearly half of the current immigrant population happened prior to the 2000s. When most immigrants were entering the country without any kind of support network in the states.

              For these people, establishing a foothold in banking and credit institutions could take a decade of hard work.

      • linkhidalgogato@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        how recent do u mean, like sure if u been here less than a year and u dont have a green card probably hard but when u have it its not hard at all, how do u think people exist in this country before the 5 years for citizenship are up or even beyond that if they never get citizenship. also the person in the post studied in the usa they probably lived here atleast 4 years.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          how recent do u mean, like sure if u been here less than a year and u dont have a green card probably hard but when u have it its not hard at all

          I think you are vastly underestimating how hard it is to get a start in a totally new country where you don’t speak the language.

          how do u think people exist in this country before the 5 years for citizenship are up or even beyond that if they never get citizenship.

          Cash… Most immigrants rely on cash and don’t really trust banking institutions. There are plenty of check cashing services that charge predatory amounts of money to cash checks for people who aren’t able to utilize or get a checking account.

          also the person in the post studied in the usa they probably lived here atleast 4 years.

          On a student visa… You can open a bank account with a student visa passport, and a letter explaining your residency status. If you apply for an individual tax ID number and get assigned a social security number, you can apply for a credit card. But you don’t really have any credit history, and they know you’re only in the country temporarily.

          I went through all this when my cousin came from Korea to go to school, it was a lot easier for him to just use his dual currency card.

          • linkhidalgogato@lemmy.ml
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            6 months ago

            man i am an immigrant and most people im close with are too its not that hard to get a credit card, i have seen it tons of times people get here and as soon as they get their work permit and have a couple month of direct deposit they can get a shitty credit card and after that they get a decent one, also it doesnt really matter how much of a pain in the ass it would have been for the student if his plan was to do this its perfectly doable.

            like i literally know so many people who have been here only a little over a year and are already drowning in credit card loans, when my family emigrated my mom got a credit card less than a year into living here. migrants get credit cards all the time its super normal are u sure we are even talking about the same country here.