ardbroilach

Hi All,
My wife moved out to the Toronto area last October, having been recruited by a Canadian supermarket.
I didn't come out till the middle of July as I was still working back in the UK.
She has what I believe is the standard 3 year visa, tied to her employment and I have the same as her spouse.
She opened a bank account with RBC, and got an RBC credit card too.
Last month we were able to make the current account a joint one and I was given a debit card.
She asked to do the same with the RBC credit card and eventually got a call from them confirming we could do this and to come in to the branch with various forms of ID.
When we visited yesterday, our advisor rang the back office team to find out if it was better to apply as a co-applicant or just for another authorized user.
After long conversations we were eventually told that we would not get either as neither of us has permanent residency.
I should add that my wife is a senior executive with an appropriate salary as well as currently having a large amount of savings held in another RBC account.
We are now looking at using another bank as RBC appear to have no interest in customer service.
I am currently looking for work but, given our existing household income, we cannot understand the response we've been given.

Any help/shared experience/advice gratefully received.

Aviator

I wouldn't get all indignant about it, likely find similar at other banks. We have been with RBC for 25 years, hold most of our investments at a credit union and RBC have been fine, never had a problem that was not resolved. Secure the credit card against a GIC or the like and any bank will let you have a car.

ardbroilach

Thanks for the feedback.
RBC actually rang us again this morning to admit they'd made a mistake and that I could have a card.
Problem solved!

Jerseygirl

We got credit cards with TD when we were temp residents...probably because we have had healthy accounts with them for a number of years. I couldn’t get a Capital 1/Costco credit card until a got PR.

Siouxie

Welcome to BE!

Sounds like you unfortunately had someone who had no idea what they were talking about! Glad you got it sorted.
RBC advertise a credit card as part of their package for newcomers to Canada (which includes TWP holders) Newcomers to Canada - Foreign Worker - RBC
(They also have deals on Sim card/phone credit and free banking)

HGerchikov

We had similar with HSBC on arrival, we could have the card but only with a $1000 limit which was pointless. Having just sold our UK home we had a considerable balance in the account so we just told them we would be moving to another bank. Within 20 mins we had a call back from the manager asking if $15k would be sufficient for a limit.