From a First US Card to Travel Points
The premium US cards and the points behind them are real, and they are the reason most people start this at all.
They are also the last step, not the first. Those cards sit at the top of a ladder that begins with a credit file, and the file begins with a first approval on an ITIN, which makes getting that number in hand the bottom rung.
First Class Citizen's own sequence says it plainly. Build the score, then apply for the top tier cards their pages name: Chase Sapphire and American Express Platinum.
On their method, clients reach a 720 score in about four to six months. Chase this in the wrong order and you collect declines instead of points.
Why the score comes before the points
A premium travel card is an underwriting decision, not a purchase.
The issuer is deciding how much unsecured credit to extend to you, and the only evidence they weigh is a file. How long it has existed, whether payments arrived on time, and how close the balances run to the limits.
A file that does not exist yet answers none of those questions, which is why the flagship application almost always fails as a first move.
There is a fixed floor underneath it. You generally need three to six months of reported activity before a score can be calculated at all.
That is the bureaus' clock, not a provider's, so the points lane opens on a schedule you can plan but cannot skip. The honest version is set out in how fast a US score can really be built.
The cards at the top are the easy part to want. The file underneath them is the work.
Book Your Assessment CallThe three rungs, in the order they happen
The first rung is an approval that reports. For a non-resident that is the hard one, and the method clears it in person.
The first card is opened on a Miami visit they organize, one to two days on the ground, with the banks they work with for ITIN applicants: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Capital One, and Citibank.
It is usually in hand within three to seven business days, and from that moment the history is accumulating. The full mechanics sit in US credit cards with an ITIN.
The second rung is the score itself, built by paying on time and keeping balances low, until the number is real. On their method that lands at 720 in about four to six months.
Their own ladder puts the target higher before the flagship applications: build the score up to 750, then apply for top tier cards.
The third rung is the earning tier. Chase Sapphire and American Express Platinum, and the upgrades they describe at three to five points per dollar.
What those points are worth depends on how you redeem them, and that is a separate craft from getting approved. The approval is what this guide is about.
What is advice and what is yours
One line on how the engagement works, because it decides what you are buying. First Class Citizen advises, organizes the Miami visit, and hands you the sequence.
They do not touch your accounts and cannot access them. Every card, every application, and every redemption is yours.
What the engagement removes is the guesswork about which product, in which order, at which moment.
One blunt thing. No card is owed to you, and no approval can be promised in advance. The file you build is what speaks to the issuer.
If you also run a US LLC, the personal and business files interact in ways worth understanding before you apply, covered in the LLC owner's guide.
Approvals that landed at the top of the ladder
Real client wins, straight from the Hall of Wins.
The US credit series
- Find your routeTell it what you are trying to do and it maps the guides to read in order.
- ITIN document checklistPick your situation, get the exact list the IRS accepts.
- What it costsPublished prices and timelines, service by service.
- US credit calculatorWhat your spend returns at the rates issuers publish today.
FAQ
Can a non-resident get a premium US travel card?
What score do I need before applying for the top tier?
How many points do the premium cards earn?
Do I need an ITIN for any of this?
Can I skip the starter card and apply straight to a flagship?
Does First Class Citizen apply for the cards or redeem the points for me?
Build the file the top tier is looking at
The assessment call maps the route from an ITIN to a first approval to the score the flagship cards actually require, in the order it has to happen. Free, qualified, direct.
Book Your Assessment Call
Founder & CEO, The First Class Citizen