Hello fellow travelers!

Question: Are there any cards that you can use shortly after being approved?

Background:
My partner and I are Americans currently living in Canada. We would normally have a difficult time meeting the minimum spend in USD$, but he just got accepted into a workshop in Lisbon that will be at least USD$3k that for various reasons could make sense to buy in USD$. He has to pay by FRIDAY, 22 May (we're not procrastinators they actually gave us less than a week). So, we're trying to find a card with a quick turnaround between application approval and actually being able to use the card. I suspect 2 weeks is the best we're going to find, but worth asking (: We might be able to pay for the flight in 2 weeks, so that would give us time to get the 50k United card. Woo!

Sorry if this has already been posted, I can't find it if it has. Thank you!