American Express might have what you need:

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-g...Runitedkingdom

I successfully opened a new UK Amex Account after repatriating in 2019. Amex recognised my US credit history and my personal history with them granting me a similar credit limit.

That's what happened to me. There is no human reasoning, it is a case of computer says no. When you have been here a while, banks and other organisations will be falling over themselves to give you a credit card hoping you will fall into the trap of not paying off every month. There are other (and cheaper) routes for borrowing cash to tide you over.

The trouble we have found was getting contracts for broadband and phones etc. we had to but our own phones and had real trouble getting a phone card. We had to buy pay as you go SIM cards and managed to get a contract with Talk Talk for the broadband who don’t do credit checks. We had to by a Freesat Receiver for TV etc because we couldn’t get a contract.
The other issue we found it signing up for the on line government web sites which requires 2 out of 3 forms of identity checks, one was a UK passport which we had, the others were a recent credit card application or something to do with Northern Ireland, neither of which we could provided. So we can’t even sign up for our own Governments on line services!!!
We had over £1 million cash sitting in the bank and really good pensions so we don’t actually need to borrow anything. We paid cash for a car and house but bank point blank refused us a cc. Comical!!! So now I have drawn most of my funds out and invested somewhere else. My view it’s their loss.
The big issue for us is our container has so far taken 3 months from Vancouver and we have no idea where it is and when it will arrive in the UK.
Not really a good start and to have issues with your bank we have been with for 15 years doesn’t help!

You just have to get through the first six months and then they will be falling over themselves to give you a credit card. If in the interim you need to borrow money, there are cheaper ways than using a credit card.

Yes, this is a real pain. We were fortunate that in 2011 we came over for 6 months and rented a house, had to put down 3 months advance rent. Used our existing phones but had no problem getting a Virgin router and cable box. Paid council tax and utilities etc. When we moved back 5 years later we had no problem getting credit cards, SIM cards etc. When our son moved over a year later in 2017 he had the same problem with getting a credit card and SIM card but again had no problem getting a router from Virgin for his broadband (he has never had cable TV). We put him on our phone plan and he managed okay with his new UK debit card. For his new address with his HSBC account they accepted a letter from us that he was staying with us, and the same letter was sufficient as proof when he went for his interview to get a NI number. He bought a house (no mortgage needed) and was moved out 3 months later.

We consider ourselves very lucky and was able to get a mobile contract on day 1. All we needed was our UK bank account and passport. Three in Edinburgh were fantastic. Nothing was a problem.

Interesting we use 3 pay as you go. I was declined a phone contract but managed to get one SIM card!!! My wife was declined outright.