Your first weeks in America: SSN, health insurance and a credit history from zero
In America you start administratively at zero — no credit history, no health insurance, no number. The order determines how quickly you can live normally: the Social Security Number first, the insurance within sixty days, and the credit card you need to ever rent a home.
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In your first weeks in America, this order works fastest:
- first your Social Security Number (SSN), the American equivalent of the Dutch citizen service number;
- then health insurance within sixty days;
- then a bank account and a secured credit card, a credit card backed by a deposit you put down yourself, to build a credit history.
America has no population register and no registration desk. You do not have a credit history there yet, and you notice that when renting a home, at the DMV and even with a phone contract.
How do you get a Social Security Number?
Employers, banks and even schools use the SSN to identify you, and you are asked for it when renting a home. Applying is free.
If you come on an immigrant visa (green card) and asked for an SSN in that visa application, there is nothing more to do. The card lands at your American mailing address within three weeks after arrival.
Did you not tick that box, or do you come on a work visa such as E-2, H-1B or L-1? Then you visit a Social Security office yourself after arrival.
If you do not (yet) get an SSN but must file a return, there is the ITIN. That is a nine-digit tax number from the IRS, the American tax authority. The ITIN gives no right to work.
Why is there a sixty-day clock on your health insurance?
If you are employed, insurance usually runs through your employer. If you arrange it yourself, you buy a plan on the marketplace of healthcare.gov, which lawfully present immigrants can use. Normally you can only join in the autumn. But moving to the US from a foreign country counts as a qualifying life event: an event that gives you access outside that round. It opens a Special Enrollment Period of sixty days, an extra enrollment window. Miss it, and you are without coverage until the next enrollment round.
Count on American amounts. Besides the premium you first pay the deductible yourself, the part you pay before cover starts. After that you pay a copay, your own contribution, per visit. That runs up to a legal ceiling that in 2026 stands at $10,600 per person and $21,200 per family.
The premium tax credit, a subsidy towards the premium, cuts the premium at lower incomes. It does so less than in 2025: for a fifty-year-old at twice the poverty level it covers 81% of the benchmark plan, against 93% a year earlier.
| Step | Deadline or amount |
|---|---|
| SSN requested with the immigrant visa | card within 3 weeks after arrival |
| Special Enrollment Period after a move | 60 days |
| Out-of-pocket ceiling health plan 2026 | $10,600 per person, $21,200 per family |
| Secured credit card | deposit of your choice, for example $500 |
| Credit builder loan | term usually 6 to 24 months |
| Free copy of tenant screening report after denial | request within 60 days |
| California driver's license after taking up residence | within 10 days |
| Registering a car in California | within 20 days |
| Knowledge and driving test California | 3 attempts per test |
| FBAR report of Dutch accounts | above $10,000 combined, at any moment in the year |
How do you build a credit history?
A bank asks for proof of identity and a first deposit. The real obstacle is the credit score: a prediction of your payment behaviour, built from your American past. That past is zero. So start building in week one.
The proven route is a secured credit card. You put down an amount yourself, for example $500, and may spend up to that amount. Pay on time every month: paying on time is the factor that weighs heaviest.
A credit builder loan at a bank or credit union works similarly. You pay in small instalments, usually six to 24 months, and get the amount back at the end.
What do the landlord, the DMV and the school ask?
Landlords run a tenant screening report: credit report, rental history with any evictions, employment verification and criminal history. If you are denied on the basis of that report, the landlord must tell you which company supplied it. You then have the right to a free copy if you request it within sixty days, and to correction of errors.
Your driver's license is a state matter and runs through the DMV, your state's driver's license office. The deadline is short. In California you may drive on your foreign license for ten days after taking up residence, and a car you bring along must be registered within twenty days.
There is no exchange. With a Dutch license you take the knowledge test and the driving test again, each with three attempts. An accompanying driver must come along to the driving test. Plan it early: a car is no luxury in most states.
For the children it is simpler. The US provides free public education from kindergarten through grade 12, and all states have compulsory school attendance. You enroll at the school district of your home address, with:
- the medical records and proof of immunizations;
- proof of identity, such as the birth certificate;
- proof that you live in the district.
So bring the Dutch vaccination booklet.
What do Dutch people often miss?
Once you are a tax resident of the US, you must report your Dutch bank accounts every year as soon as they together exceed $10,000 at any moment. That is the FBAR report to FinCEN, an agency of the US Department of the Treasury. The report is separate from your tax return and applies even if the account yielded nothing. Whoever keeps Dutch savings thus fills in one extra form a year. Put it in your calendar next to the return.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to United States.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- USCIS — Welcome to the United States, guide for new immigrants (SSN, bank, school) — uscis.gov
- Healthcare.gov — Special Enrollment Period when moving — healthcare.gov
- CFPB — denied on a tenant screening report: your rights — consumerfinance.gov
- CFPB — building a credit history — consumerfinance.gov
- IRS — FBAR reporting duty for foreign accounts — irs.gov
- USAGov — getting a Social Security card (free) — usa.gov
- Healthcare.gov — out-of-pocket maximum 2026 — healthcare.gov
- CMS — Marketplace 2026: plans, prices and premium tax credit — cms.gov
- California Vehicle Code §12505 — 10 days after establishing residence — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
- California DMV — applying for a driver's license (knowledge and driving test) — dmv.ca.gov
- IRS — the ITIN — irs.gov
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