Most banks that issue secured cards to people without a Social Security number ask for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) in its place. Capital One says its Platinum Secured and Quicksilver Secured cards can both be opened with an ITIN, and a few app-based cards such as Firstcard will verify you with a passport and visa while you wait for one.
The card is the easy part. The ITIN takes about seven weeks to arrive, can quietly expire, and comes with a privacy question you should think about before you file. So this page starts there.
What an ITIN covers
The IRS issues ITINs to people who have a federal tax reason to file but aren’t eligible for an SSN, such as nonresident aliens with U.S. income or the spouse of a U.S. resident. The IRS ITIN page is direct about the limits: it’s a nine-digit tax processing number, it doesn’t authorize you to work in the U.S., and it doesn’t change immigration status. Card issuers accept it because banks have to verify who you are, and an ITIN ties you to an identity record the IRS has checked.
Getting one: Form W-7 and the seven-week wait
You apply with Form W-7, normally attached to a federal tax return, unless you fit one of the exceptions in the W-7 instructions. According to the IRS page on how to apply for an ITIN, you can mail the package to the Austin Service Center, or apply in person at an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center or a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site that offers ITIN services (both free), or through a Certifying Acceptance Agent, who charges a fee but can verify your passport on the spot so you don’t have to mail the original.
Allow 7 weeks. If you apply between January 15 and April 30, or from overseas, the IRS says 9 to 11 weeks. Count backward from when you want the card: an application mailed in mid-February may not produce a number until early May.
Then there’s expiration. An ITIN expires on December 31 after three consecutive tax years in which it isn’t used on a federal return, according to the IRS guidance on how to renew an ITIN. Someone who gets an ITIN in 2026, opens a card, and then stops filing because they have no U.S. income will find the number lapsed by the end of 2029. The card doesn’t close, but the next application for a loan or another card may stall. Renewal means filing a new W-7 with a tax return.
There’s also a privacy question. In April 2025 the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security signed an agreement to share some taxpayer information for immigration enforcement. Advocacy groups challenged it in federal court. If your immigration status is uncertain, talk to an immigration attorney or a nonprofit legal service before filing a W-7. The card application itself goes to a bank, not the government.
Cards that take an ITIN or a passport
Issuer policies on ITINs change, and they’re often set card by card. These were checked in October 2026.
Capital One’s guide How To Get a Credit Card With an ITIN names the Platinum Secured and Quicksilver Secured as cards you can apply for with an ITIN. The Platinum Secured takes a refundable deposit of $49, $99 or $200, depending on your application, for a credit line of at least $200, and has no annual fee. The Quicksilver Secured requires $200 and pays 1.5% cash back. Both carry high variable APRs, which only matter if you carry a balance, and you shouldn’t. Capital One’s preapproval check accepts an ITIN and uses a soft inquiry.
Firstcard markets its Secured Credit Builder Card to international students and new arrivals. Applicants without an SSN are asked by email for a passport, a U.S. visa or ITIN, and proof of a U.S. address. It works like a funded charge card: you move money in, spend against it, and Firstcard reports the activity to all three bureaus. Read the current fee plans before you sign up.
U.S. Bank’s secured Visa cards take a deposit of $300 to $5,000, in $100 steps, which lets you set a higher limit. Its online application asks for an SSN, though, so call a branch and ask whether it will take an ITIN before you count on it.
Older lists of no-SSN cards often still include Petal. Its cards closed to new applicants after Empower bought the company in 2024, so skip it.
No SSN and no ITIN yet
While the W-7 is pending, you have two practical moves. A passport-based card like Firstcard gets a reported account started now. Or someone you trust, with a long and clean card history, can add you as an authorized user, which costs nothing and needs no application from you. If the issuer reports authorized users, that account’s history can appear on your file. Their late payments would show up too, so pick someone who pays on time.
If you had credit in another country, Nova Credit translates reports from some countries for certain U.S. lenders and card issuers. The list of countries and partners changes, so check both before relying on it.
How long until you have a score?
FICO won’t produce a score until your file has at least one account that has been open six months or more and at least one account reported within the past six months, a rule FICO explains in its post on minimum scoring criteria. So a card opened in March gives you a FICO score around September at the earliest. Some VantageScore versions can score a thinner file sooner.
What fills those six months is simple and a little boring. Put one small recurring bill on the card, such as a phone plan, and pay the statement in full. On a $200 limit, a $60 balance is already 30% utilization, so if you spend more than that, pay part of it before the statement closes. Don’t close the first card later, even after you qualify for better ones; its age keeps helping. And don’t stack applications, because each one is a hard inquiry on a file that has almost nothing else in it.
Check your reports once the account has been open a few months. If the online systems can’t match you without an SSN, the FTC’s page on free credit reports explains the mail-in route, and you’ll need copies of your ID and proof of address. If you later get an SSN, tell each card issuer so your records stay matched to one file.
The order to do it in
- If you need an ITIN, decide whether to use a Certifying Acceptance Agent or a free IRS or VITA site, and file outside tax season if you can.
- Run Capital One’s preapproval with your ITIN, or start with a passport-based card while you wait.
- Put one small bill on the card, pay in full, and leave the account open.
- File a federal return at least once every three years so the ITIN doesn’t expire.
Related reading
- Your First Credit Card, and the Mistakes That Follow It
- How Long Does It Take to Build Credit?
- The Best Credit Builder Loans in the U.S.
ITIN wait times and expiration rules come from IRS pages and can change, and each issuer decides card by card whether it takes an ITIN. Confirm with the IRS and the issuer before you apply, and see an immigration attorney if filing a W-7 worries you.
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