Re: Possible move to Portland, Oregon, advice on schools and places to live...
 

Yup. I hope to have a work permit and an SSN by then; if not, I will apply for the ITIN. Not a big deal.

Re: Possible move to Portland, Oregon, advice on schools and places to live...
 

By "proper" do you mean unsecured, because Bank of American were able to give me a secured credit card before I had my SSN

Re: Possible move to Portland, Oregon, advice on schools and places to live...
 

Yes I mean an unsecured one. Anyone can get secured credit card because you essentially pay up front for it. Which is pretty pointless - just use a debit card instead.

Re: Possible move to Portland, Oregon, advice on schools and places to live...
 

I couldn't get an unsecured card even with an SSN when I arrived. It's a credit history thing; nothing to do with SSN/ITIN.

The point of getting a secured card is that it lets you build up a credit history that will result in you being approved for a 'proper' credit card. In case anyone reading doesn't know, there is an excellent wiki page that describes building credit: https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Fatbr...it_and_Finance

Sorry to the OP for the thread derailment.

Re: Possible move to Portland, Oregon, advice on schools and places to live...
 

Hijacking the thread again -
from my experience, it is possible for the non-working spouse to get at least a secured credit card and definitely a bank account. Bof A and Wells Fargo have both been handing them out to L1/L2 + H1B/H4 visa holders, getting both partners to apply at the same time ( although they will be assessed individually). The bank will want an ITIN/SSN as soon as possible though. Bear in mind though that the account will probably have an ongoing monthly charge unless you keep a minimum daily balance.
Just FYI you can put down the working spouse's income on the application form as your income. Last time I mentioned this on here it lead to some discussion/disagreement but I was reminded about it last week when I got an invitation to apply for a costco citibank visa card where it actually said that you can include the income of anyone who pays all or part of your bills in the income part. Certainly in Texas, spouses are liable for each other's debts so I guess that so long as one of you is earning, they know they will get their money in the worst case scenario.