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I am an Italian citizen looking to move to the United States at some point next year; my fiancée submitted a petition for a K-1 Visa and we're waiting for it to be processed.

I have done a little reading on how credit score works in the US and I think I have a decent idea of what I can do once I have my Visa and have moved.

That being said, is there anything I can do prior to that while still in Italy, to start building a credit score? Also, I've had a prepaid card (maximum amount allowed on it is €10000) for almost 10 years now, and more recently opened an account with debit card: is there any way I can transfer that history to the US?

Michele C
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It sounds like you can try and obtain a credit card and establish credit history as a non-US citizen/resident.

Lucky for you, issuers can’t legally require you to provide a Social Security number if you don’t have one, according to the Social Security Administration. Instead, you can use an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), which is another nine-digit identifier that functions similarly to a Social Security number.

However, I would assume that you need a US address. In compliance with the Patriot Act, merchants are required to collect identifying information for all individuals who submit a credit application.

As far as transferring credit score:

Even if you had a positive credit history in your country of origin, foreign credit history can’t be transferred to the United States.

Michael
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