But, I'm guessing that's not what's happening in your situation. If that were the case wouldn't you have just claimed that you or your brother were immigrants?

And my point still stands.... Just because your sister in-law or brother have green cards and have access to credit cards doesn't mean that's the norm for most immigrants. It also doesn't mean that it wasn't difficult for your sister in-law.

You literally don't have a credit rating when you come here as an immigrant. So unless you have someone willing to co-sign and accept potential liability, then you're not going to be able to borrow anything.

I've heard discovery has a specific card that a lot of middle/upper class. immigrants apply for, but even then it's still hard to get a line of credit unless you have a fairly well established work history.

I think a lot of people on Lemmy aren't really exposed to many immigrant communities. It seems like most of you think the majority of immigrants in the country come from middle or upper class families, most likely because your idea of an immigrant is someone who came here for school.

That may be more common nowadays due to the rising importance of sponsorships for green cards, but nearly half of the current immigrant population happened prior to the 2000s. When most immigrants were entering the country without any kind of support network in the states.

For these people, establishing a foothold in banking and credit institutions could take a decade of hard work.