I would recommend that you apply for credit cards with no foreign transaction fees now, while you live in the US. Plan how you will maintain a US bank account that you can transfer funds to to pay your bills in US dollars. Figure out which cards are the best "keepers" that you will want to keep long term. You should be able to keep the cards you get while living in the US indefinitely.
US credit cards offers are marketed to US residents; if you put a foreign address, you won't be approved. Sure, you can falsify your home address, and people have done it without getting caught. I would argue that you are then committing fraud. But the only thing to stop you from doing this is your conscience.
Here is an excerpt from the terms and conditions of a Chase card:
You must have a valid permanent home address within the 50 United States or the District of Columbia.
Whether they catch you depends on whether they choose to audit your account and wonder why all your charges are outside the US. Here is an excerpt from a Citibank agreement:
We may gather information about you, including from your employer, your bank, credit bureaus, and others, to verify your identity and determine your eligibility for credit, renewal of credit, and future extensions of credit. If you ask us, we will tell you whether or not we requested a credit bureau report and the names and addresses of any credit bureaus that provided us with such reports.
It is not in a bank's best interest to grant credit to an individual who has no desire to ever live in the US again. They would worry that you would run up a large balance, refuse to pay, and they would have little recourse.
Last edited by birdseye; Sep 16, 2012 at 1:05 pm