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★ BEST CARDS FOR NEWCOMERS272 CANADA CARDS TRACKEDDEEP-RESEARCHED · SOURCED · NO BIAS
Best For — Newcomers & immigrants

The best credit cards for newcomers in Canada

For newcomers and immigrants, the best cards are cards designed for people new to the country with no local credit file — programs that accept newcomers, sometimes without a local history, and start you on the path to a full domestic credit score. We track 272 Canada cards.

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The profile

Who this guide is for

  • You recently moved and have little or no local credit history
  • You've been declined because you're new to the country's system
  • You want a card that reports locally to build your score
  • A secured or newcomer program is fine if approval is realistic
The shortlist

Top cards for newcomers in Canada

Researched · pending editorial review7 researched
№ 1
Scotiabank
Scene+

Scotiabank Scene+ Visa

Scotiabank StartRight is the longest-running, most consistently cited newcomer banking program in Canada, and Scene+ Visa is — per the shared card reference itself — 'the card most commonly issued to newcomers via Scotiabank StartRight.' What sets StartRight apart from competitors is its formal partnership with Nova Credit to recognize foreign credit history from several countries, which can support a stronger initial credit limit than a purely file-less applicant would otherwise get elsewhere.

  • C$0/yr annual fee
  • Groceries card
□ 4 sources
Annual feeC$0per year
High confidence
Apply nowRead our review →
№ 2
BMO
Mastercard

BMO CashBack Mastercard

Of the five bank newcomer-program cards on this list, BMO's NewStart program is the only one where sources explicitly flag 'no minimum income requirement' as a standalone approval criterion — meaningful for a newcomer who may not yet have a Canadian pay stub or a long employment history to point to.

  • Cash Back card
□ 4 sources
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
High confidence
Apply nowRead our review →
№ 5
TD
Visa

TD Cash Back Visa Card

The category mix (transit, streaming, bill payments) also better matches an early-settlement spending pattern than a pure groceries-only card. It's inferred from TD's standard product-tier naming rather than confirmed on a single source.

  • C$0/yr annual fee
  • Bills & Utilities card
□ 3 sources
Annual feeC$0per year
Medium confidence
Apply nowRead our review →
№ 6
Home Trust
Visa

Home Trust Secured Visa

Guaranteed approval based purely on the deposit amount (not a credit check) makes it the most predictable card on this list, and reporting to the credit bureaus is exactly what a thin/no-file persona needs regardless of rewards.

  • C$0/yr annual fee
  • Secured card
  • Earns no cash back or points on any purchase category — this is a pure credit-building tool, not a rewards card
  • Deposit fully protected via CDIC deposit insurance and refunded once the card is cancelled and any balance is paid off
□ 3 sources
Annual feeC$0per year
High confidence
Apply nowRead our review →
№ 7
Capital One
Mastercard

Capital One Guaranteed Mastercard

The best fully-digital, no-branch-visit fallback researched for this persona: every bank newcomer program above requires an in-person appointment with immigration documents, which is a real barrier for someone who's just landed, doesn't yet have local transportation sorted, or is applying from outside a major city. Product naming is inconsistent across sources (Ratehub separately lists a 'Guaranteed Mastercard' and a 'Guaranteed Secured Mastercard') — confirm the exact variant, deposit requirement, and APR Capital One offers at the point of application.

  • C$0/yr annual fee
  • Credit Building card
  • Earns no cash back or points on any purchase category — confirmed directly on Capital One's own product page
□ 4 sources
Annual feeC$0per year
Medium-high confidence
Apply nowRead our review →
Method

How we picked

These picks come from dedicated research for newcomers and immigrants, which drew on issuers' published terms and independent sources — listed under “sources” on each pick. The order is the research's. Every fee, welcome offer and earn rate shown on a pick is the figure our catalogue holds for that card, the same one its card page shows. Nothing here is pay-to-rank. Business cards appear only on business guides, student cards only on student guides, and prepaid cards on none. A figure we do not hold is shown as “Not confirmed”, never as a zero. Each researched shortlist is marked as pending editorial review until the site's editor approves it.

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Questions

Frequently asked

What is the best credit card for newcomers and immigrants in Canada?

The best card for newcomers and immigrants in Canada depends on your exact spending and credit. The shortlist above holds 7 cards for this profile, each chosen because it fits newcomers and immigrants: cards designed for people new to the country with no local credit file — programs that accept newcomers, sometimes without a local history, and start you on the path to a full domestic credit score.

How did you choose these cards for newcomers and immigrants?

These picks come from dedicated research for newcomers and immigrants, which drew on issuers' published terms and independent sources — listed under “sources” on each pick. The order is the research's. Every fee, welcome offer and earn rate shown on a pick is the figure our catalogue holds for that card, the same one its card page shows. Nothing here is pay-to-rank.

Why do some cards show no annual fee figure?

Because we hold no confirmed figure for it. Our fee column used to default to zero, and many cards still carry a zero that no check has confirmed — so a zero on its own cannot be told apart from a field nobody filled in, and printing “C$0” there would invent a price. A card shows a fee where a positive one is on record, or where a zero was confirmed against the issuer's terms; otherwise the slot reads “Not confirmed”, and the issuer's own page is the place to check before you apply.

How are these cards ranked?

In the research's order. The figures on each pick come from our catalogue, and each card's review page marks which of them a published document states.