Originally Posted by
atsak
No, not at all. Non resident aliens can be provided with US cards at the discretion of the issuing bank assuming their identity can be verified and they have a US address (which I do). The issue is the automated systems, because there happens to be overlap with my SIN and a previously issued SSN, flags the application as invalid and I can't find anyone to override it. I have verified this a couple times.
Chase will not issue cards to non resident aliens, but Bank of America will, as will TD Bank (US) and RBC Bank (US); TD and RBC are setup for cross border banking so they can differentiate more easily.
Now what I think you think I might be doing is presenting my Canadian SIN# as an SSN#. That *is* illegal. And that is most certainly not what I do. I approach the bank directly with my passport and a copy of my Canadian credit report.
There is no reason for this to be an issue because you shouldn't be presenting Chase with your SIN at all. They don't know what that is nor do they care. Get an SSN or an ITIN. From my check just now, Chase won't even let you get past the first page of the application without entering one of those, so I'm very curious how you'd run into this problem. Branch application?
Also, Chase will issue cards to NRAs that have an SSN, such as students or those on internships with a J-1 visa. Half of my Chase cards were issued that way. AMEX did my global transfer with no SIN or SSN at all, just my passport.