How long does it take to apply credit card for new EP?

[surgwide]

How long does it take to apply credit card for new EP?
Like 3 months payroll?

[Lisafuller]

If you apply online, you can get approved almost instantly. The physical card will arrive in the mail a couple weeks later. Until then, you can just have the card loaded on your phone and pay digitally.

[malcontent]

I didn’t get a credit card here for many years, mainly because the annual fee was off putting, and the rewards were also not very compelling. Eventually I realized that just about all of them will waive the annual fee, but you have to request it each year. I usually keep an eye on the expiry month of each card to ensure I don’t forget.

Nowadays rewards have improved, although they are often complicated, with a lot of hoops to jump through and limited by a myriad of earning caps, minimum spends and spend categories. Some cards change their rewards program frequently too, so it can be rather annoying.

For a new EP holder, it can be a challenge to get your first credit card here. I know one guy in our office, he was CFO to our VP and got rejected, despite earning well over 10x the minimum required salary. Generally you want to start with one of the 3 local banks, preferably the one where you have an account and deposit your salary.

No real hurry though, getting a credit card here is not that tantalizing. You can always get a debit card in the mean time. From what I have seen, most expats who only come here for a few years just stick with a debit card for local spend.