When people talk about American Express, they usually mean points, perks, or the metal cards.

What tends to get missed is something more practical: Amex can help when you move countries, not dramatically, but in a way that matters exactly when you need it.

The first time I moved to the U.S., I assumed I was starting from zero.

I was in my late 20s and had just taken a role in sales & trading at a global investment bank, but none of that translated into anything usable in the U.S. credit system.

No FICO score, no credit file, nothing that the system could recognise.

As far as it was concerned, I had less standing than a schoolboy with a paper round and a couple of months of local history.

What I did have was an Amex I’d picked up years earlier while I was still based down under. It had been open long enough that the “Member Since” date went back six years, though I hadn’t thought much about it.

When I applied for a U.S. Amex, that history carried through in a way nothing else did.

While Citi and Chase wanted a local track record, Amex was willing to rely on what they already knew. Within a short period, I had my first U.S. credit card despite having no U.S. file at all.

At the time, I didn’t have a framework for it. I just noted that one issuer was behaving differently.

Years later, moving to the U.K., the same thing happened.

New country, same absence of local history, and the same expectation that everything would need to be rebuilt.

Amex was early again.

The card that arrived showed a different “Member Since” year, which didn’t line up with the original account. Slightly odd, but not especially important. The approval itself was the signal, coming through when most banks would have taken longer or declined.

That was enough to recognise it wasn’t a one-off.

At the time, this felt informal, as if Amex was recognising a relationship that didn’t exist anywhere else.

There is now a clearer explanation.

Amex runs a programme called Global Card Transfer. If you already have a card with them in one country, they can use that history when you apply somewhere else.

The mechanics are straightforward. You apply in the new country, provide your existing Amex details, and use your local address. Amex then factors in your history with them as part of the decision.

They’re not moving your credit file and there’s no score being imported. Instead, they use their own record of how you’ve behaved as a customer in place of the local data that doesn’t yet exist.

That explains both why it can work and why it doesn’t always.

If you stay in one country, you rarely notice any of this because everything builds gradually.

You develop a file over time, approvals follow, limits increase, and the system feels continuous.

It only becomes visible when that continuity disappears.

Arrive somewhere new and there is no file. Lenders hesitate, limits are low, and decisions take longer.

Against that backdrop, an issuer that doesn’t need local data in the same way stands out, which is where Amex tends to sit.

This used to feel like a structural advantage, though it’s less pronounced now.

There are more ways into local systems than there used to be, and some banks are better at handling internationally mobile clients. The process is generally less opaque than it once was.

Even so, most lenders still anchor to local bureau data, while Amex remains one of the few that can move quickly based on its own internal record.

For me, the value hasn’t been in points or perks. It has been in reducing some of the headaches of an international relocation.

You land somewhere new and need to get set up, and having a card approved early makes that easier. It gives you a starting point while everything else catches up.

From there, you build a proper local profile, other cards follow, limits increase, and things begin to normalise.

Amex just tends to be first.

Starting early seems to matter, as the age of the relationship appears to carry weight. In practice, Amex generally requires the account to have been open and in good standing for at least three months, with longer histories clearly producing stronger outcomes.

Keeping the account open helps, even if the product itself changes.

Timing matters as well. Applying while your employment and income are straightforward tends to produce cleaner outcomes.

There are small inconsistencies. The “Member Since” date is supposed to carry across and often does, but it doesn’t always show up perfectly on the new account or card. The decision itself is what counts.

It still makes sense to pair this with a local bank, since Amex can get you started but doesn’t replace building a local profile.

This is sometimes described as a global credit passport, which is close but not quite right.

Nothing is being transferred in a formal sense, and there isn’t a shared file following you around.

What exists instead is a single issuer that already knows you and is sometimes willing to act on that when others can’t.

If you expect to move countries at some point, this is one of the few things that benefits from time.

A long-standing Amex relationship doesn’t guarantee approval and doesn’t replace building a local profile, but it can meaningfully shorten the gap between arriving and having something that actually works.