Last verified: 6 August 2026 against American Express's Global Card Relationship directory, Amex's own country sites, American Express Europe S.A. consumer credit terms filed in Sweden, issuer documentation for 13 further markets, and a direct telephone confirmation from American Express regarding the UAE.
Global Transfer does not care which country you live in. It cares who issued the card in your wallet — and if that card came from a local bank operating under an American Express licence rather than from American Express itself, the answer is no, regardless of where you are.
That single distinction decides almost every case. Most articles on this subject miss it, because they read Amex's country list as a list of eligible source markets. It isn't one. We got that wrong ourselves until August 2026, and this page has been rewritten because of it.
What's on this page
- What Global Transfer actually is
- The four conditions — all of them
- The mistake nearly everyone makes with Amex's country list
- Proprietary versus GNS: the distinction that decides it
- Countries where it works, and how to apply
- Countries where it does not, and why
- Countries we have not verified
- What founders get wrong
- If Global Transfer isn't open to you
- When you don't need us
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1. What Global Transfer actually is
American Express is one of the few card issuers that operates its own network and its own issuing entities across multiple countries. Global Transfer — Amex also calls it the Global Card Relationship — lets an existing cardholder in one of those markets apply for a card in another one, using their established relationship with Amex rather than starting from nothing.
For someone forming a US company, that matters enormously. A US credit file normally takes six to eighteen months to build from zero. Global Transfer is the only mainstream route that shortcuts it.
Your credit history does not transfer. This is the most common misunderstanding and it's worth being blunt about. What transfers is the relationship — Amex's own record of how you've handled your account with them. Your local bureau file, your repayment history with other lenders, your local credit score: none of it crosses the border. Amex US underwrites you as a new customer who happens to be a known quantity to Amex.
That's still a considerable advantage. It is not the same as arriving with a credit history.
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2. The four conditions — all of them
Amex states these on the Global Card Relationship page. Nearly every guide covering this subject mentions the first and omits the rest, which is how people get to an application and discover they were never eligible.
One — the card must be issued by American Express itself. Not by a bank operating under an Amex licence. This is section 4 below and it eliminates more applicants than the other three combined.
Two — you must be the primary cardholder. A supplementary card on a spouse's or parent's account does not qualify, no matter how long it has been open.
Three — you must have held the card for at least three months. Opening a local Amex card the week before you apply achieves nothing. If you are planning a US entity for later this year and don't yet hold an Amex card locally, that three-month clock is the reason to open one now rather than in October.
Four — the account must be open and in good standing at the time you apply. If you cancelled it yourself, Amex indicates the cancellation must have been recent — within the last three months — for the relationship to still count.
Corporate cards are excluded outright, separately from all four conditions. A card issued to you through your employer's Amex corporate programme is not a personal relationship with American Express and does not carry across.
A possible fifth condition, which Amex does not publish. Practitioners who handle these applications report that the card must show some ongoing spend rather than simply sitting open. Amex's published terms say open and in good standing; they say nothing about activity. We have not confirmed this and we are not stating it as a rule — but if you are holding a card specifically to establish the relationship, using it occasionally costs you nothing.
Check before you rely on this: Amex sets these terms and can change them. Confirm the current conditions with American Express directly before you make plans that depend on them.
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3. The mistake nearly everyone makes with Amex's country list
Amex publishes a list of 21 countries on its Global Card Relationship page. Search this topic and you will find that list reproduced everywhere as "the countries Global Transfer works from."
It isn't that.
The page is headed I Moved Abroad — My Card Came With Me, and it asks you to select your destination country — the place you are moving to, where you want the new card. The 21 entries are destinations, not source markets. The United States is one of them.
So for anyone reading this page, the relevant entry on that list is the United States, every time. Your own country's presence or absence from it tells you nothing about whether your card qualifies.
We had this wrong. Earlier versions of this page treated directory presence as a proxy for eligibility, and we corrected it on 5 August 2026 after reading the page properly. If you read an earlier version and concluded your country was excluded because it wasn't listed, that conclusion may have been wrong — the test is in section 4.
The list is not useless. It tells you which markets have a dedicated arrival process, and it distinguishes two application routes:
- A "Moving to [country]" page — Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States
- A standard "All Cards" application page — Austria, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand
Argentina is the exception and is covered in section 5.
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4. Proprietary versus GNS: the distinction that decides it
American Express operates two different models, and the card in your hand may look identical under either.
Proprietary issuance. An American Express entity issues the card, holds the account, and owns the customer relationship. Amex Bank of Canada. American Express Australia Limited. American Express Services Europe Limited. These are Amex's own companies.
Global Network Services, or GNS. A local bank licenses the Amex brand and network, then issues its own cards under it. The card carries the Amex logo. The relationship belongs to the bank.
Global Transfer works only under the first model. Under GNS there is no American Express relationship to transfer, because your account was never with American Express.
This is not a technicality. It is the whole test. Some examples:
- Thailand appears on Amex's directory. Amex cards there are issued by Kasikorn Bank under a GNS licence, and the Amex subsidiary in Thailand handles travel services rather than card issuance. Directory presence, no transfer.
- Nigeria got Amex-branded cards in June 2023 through Access Bank, under GNS.
- Kenya has Equity Bank as its exclusive Amex issuer and acquirer, under GNS.
- Taiwan runs both models simultaneously. American Express International (Taiwan), Inc. issues proprietary cards; Cathay United Bank also issues Amex-branded cards under GNS. Same country, same logo, two different answers.
- Hong Kong is the same story — American Express TLS HK Limited issues proprietary cards, and bank-issued Amex cards in Hong Kong are excluded.
How to check your own card. Read the cardholder agreement, not the card. The agreement names the legal entity that issued it. If that name is a local bank, you are under GNS. If it is an American Express entity, you are not. If you cannot find the agreement, call the number on the back and ask directly: which legal entity issued this card?
This is the single most useful ten minutes you can spend before doing anything else on this page.
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5. Countries where it works, and how to apply
Verified: American Express issues its own consumer cards in these markets, and we have confirmed the issuing entity against a primary source.
| Country | Issuing entity | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | American Express Australia Limited | Moving to Australia page |
| Canada | Amex Bank of Canada | Moving to Canada page |
| United Kingdom | American Express Services Europe Limited | Moving to the UK page |
| Mexico | American Express Bank Mexico S.A. | Moving to Mexico page |
| New Zealand | Centurion Finance Limited / AE International NZ | Moving to New Zealand page |
| Hong Kong | American Express TLS HK Limited | Moving to Hong Kong page — proprietary cards only |
| Sweden | American Express Europe (Sweden branch) S.A., filial | All Cards page |
Amex maintains a full consumer range in these markets, not corporate-only offerings. Sweden runs Platinum, Gold, Green, Blue Cashback and the SAS co-branded cards, issued through a branch of American Express Europe S.A. and supervised by Finansinspektionen under consumer credit registration 82862.
Very likely eligible — consumer cards confirmed, issuing entity not yet read from local documentation. We separate these deliberately rather than round up. The UAE is the reason why: it looked proprietary from its paperwork and turned out not to be. Section 6 explains that case.
| Country | Consumer range confirmed |
|---|---|
| Germany | 9 private credit cards, including Platinum and Gold in metal, PAYBACK Amex, Blue Card |
| Netherlands | 8 cards, including Platinum at €75/month, Gold at €20/month, Flying Blue co-brands |
| Austria | 7 cards, including Platinum at €57.50/month, Gold at €16/month, BMW co-brands |
| Finland | 4 cards — Platinum at 65€/month, Gold at 17.50€/month, Green, Basic |
| Singapore | American Express International, Inc. |
| Japan | American Express Japan Co., Ltd. |
| France | American Express Carte-France |
| Spain | American Express de España S.A. |
| Italy | American Express Italia S.r.l. |
| India | American Express Banking Corp, India branch |
| Taiwan | American Express International (Taiwan), Inc. — proprietary cards only |
| Argentina | American Express Argentina S.A. |
Two market-specific notes worth knowing before you apply.
Argentina has no web form. Amex instructs applicants to email servicioaclientesamex@aexp.com with the subject line "Global Card Transfer", including your current product type and card number, your issuing country, your full name and your telephone number. If you are in Argentina and looking for an online application, you will not find one. That is expected.
India may be constrained by data localisation. Reserve Bank of India rules on where payment data is stored may restrict the export of card history to Amex US. Amex Banking Corp issues proprietarily in India, so the structural condition is met — but whether the relationship transmits in practice is a question for Amex, not for us.
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6. Countries where it does not work, and why
Not because of the country. Because of the issuer. Every entry below was confirmed against the card issuer's own documentation or American Express directly.
| Country | Who actually issues the card | Model |
|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c) – Emirates | Network |
| Thailand | Kasikorn Bank | GNS |
| Brazil | Banco Bradesco S.A. | GNS |
| Chile | Banco Santander Chile | GNS |
| South Africa | Nedbank Ltd | GNS |
| South Korea | Hyundai Card Co., Ltd. | GNS |
| Turkey | T. Garanti Bankası A.Ş. | GNS |
| Pakistan | Bank Alfalah Limited | GNS |
| Peru | Interbank and Banco de Crédito del Perú | GNS |
| Nigeria | Access Bank PLC | GNS |
| Kenya | Equity Bank Kenya | GNS |
| Tanzania | Equity Bank Tanzania Limited | GNS |
| El Salvador | Banco de América Central (BAC Credomatic) | GNS |
| Ghana | No consumer issuer at all | — |
| Colombia | Reported as Bancolombia — unverified | GNS |
| Costa Rica | Reported as BAC Credomatic — unverified | GNS |
The UAE is the one worth explaining, because it looks like an exception and isn't.
Amex cards in the UAE are issued by AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c) – Emirates. Read the cardholder agreement and you will find the words "American Express" in the issuing entity's name, no partner bank anywhere, and you will conclude — as we did — that this must be proprietary issuance.
It isn't. AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c) is a joint venture between American Express and Mawarid Investment Limited, not a wholly-owned American Express company. American Express treats cards issued by it as network cards. We confirmed this directly with American Express by phone on 5 August 2026.
A joint venture is a third category. It is not a bank operating under licence, and it is not American Express Bank. The name on your agreement is not enough to tell you which of the three you're holding.
Egypt is served by the same entity. We have not had the same confirmation for Egypt specifically, so it stays in section 7 rather than here — absence from a phone call is not an answer.
Ghana is a different case worth noting. There is no consumer Amex issuer in Ghana at all. Absa Ghana does merchant acquiring only, so Ghanaian cardholders have nothing to transfer rather than the wrong thing.
If any of these is your market, section 9 is the one that applies to you.
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7. Countries we have not verified
For these we have no confirmed information about who issues American Express cards, and we are not going to guess in either direction.
Reported as network-card markets by a practitioner source we have not independently confirmed: Israel · Saudi Arabia · Jordan · Lebanon · Kuwait · Qatar · Oman · Malaysia · Philippines
No information either way: Egypt · Ukraine
This is not the same as "no." It means nobody has checked — us included. If you hold an Amex card in one of these countries, the ten-minute check in section 4 gives you a better answer than any article will.
Two specific notes. Egypt is issued by AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c), the same entity as the UAE, which American Express confirmed is treated as a network issuer. That strongly suggests Egypt is excluded too, but we have not had it confirmed for Egypt and Egypt's foreign exchange controls would be a separate obstacle regardless. Ukraine does not appear on Amex's country selector at all, and martial law currency controls are a second barrier independent of any card question.
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8. What founders get wrong
"My country is on the Amex list, so I'm eligible." The list is destinations. See section 3. This is the error that sends the most people down the wrong path, and it is repeated by nearly every article on the subject.
"I'll open an Amex card and apply next month." Three months minimum, and the clock starts when the account opens. Plan backwards from when you need the US card.
"My credit score will transfer." It won't. The relationship transfers. Different thing.
"I'm an additional cardholder on my partner's account, that counts." It doesn't. Primary only.
"My company Amex will work." Corporate cards are excluded outright.
"The card says American Express, so American Express issued it." This is the expensive one. Read the cardholder agreement.
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9. If Global Transfer isn't open to you
Most people reading this will land here, and it is genuinely fine.
The built route works from anywhere and depends on nothing except your own execution. Two tracks run in parallel:
Business credit. A D-U-N-S number is free from Dun & Bradstreet. Vendor accounts that report to the business bureaus establish a payment record. A Paydex score typically becomes available once enough trade lines report — commonly within 45 to 90 days, though this depends entirely on how quickly your vendors report and is not something anyone can promise.
Earned credibility. An ITIN, then a card that reports to the consumer bureaus, then time. Six to eighteen months to a usable file.
Neither is fast. Both are permanent, and neither depends on holding the right passport or having opened an Amex account in a market that happens to run a proprietary issuer.
One thing to be careful about while you build: Mercury prohibits residents of a number of countries, including Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ukraine. It does not prohibit Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa or Egypt, despite a great deal of writing online that says otherwise. Check before you rely on this: the list changes, and it is published on Mercury's own support site.
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10. When you don't need us
If you hold a proprietary Amex card in Canada, the UK, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Hong Kong or Sweden, have held it three months as primary cardholder, and the account is in good standing — apply directly through Amex's Moving to the United States page. It is free, it takes about twenty minutes, and paying anyone to do it for you is paying for a form.
If you are unsure whether your card is proprietary or GNS, call Amex and ask. Also free.
Come to us when the answer is no and you need the built route constructed properly, or when the US entity, EIN and banking underneath it don't exist yet.
Does American Express offer global acceptance for their premium credit cards, and are there any countries where usage might be limited?
Yes. Amex premium cards (Platinum, Gold, Centurion) are accepted at Amex's global merchant network in over 160 countries. However, acceptance rates vary significantly by country. In the US, UK, Canada, and Western Europe, Amex acceptance is near-universal at major merchants. In parts of Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, acceptance is lower than Visa or Mastercard — particularly at smaller merchants and local vendors. The more relevant question for non-resident founders is not where the card is accepted but whether you can get the card: Amex Global Transfer requires an existing Amex account in your home country, and the programme is only available from the 47 countries listed above. If your home country is not on that list, you cannot transfer — you would need to apply directly from the US, which requires a US credit history.
Amex Global Transfer — country eligibility
Eligible = proprietary Amex consumer cards, issuer verified. Likely eligible = consumer cards confirmed, issuer entity not yet verified to primary source — confirm with Amex. Not eligible = GNS/partner-bank issued, excluded. Unknown = no verified information.
| Country | GT status | Issuer | Mercury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Eligible | American Express Australia Limited | OK |
| Canada | Eligible | Amex Bank of Canada | OK |
| Hong Kong | Eligible | American Express TLS HK Limited | OK |
| Mexico | Eligible | American Express Bank Mexico S.A. | OK |
| New Zealand | Eligible | Centurion Finance Limited / AE International NZ | OK |
| Singapore | Eligible | American Express International, Inc. | OK |
| Sweden | Eligible | American Express Europe (Sweden branch) S.A., filial | OK |
| United Kingdom | Eligible | American Express Services Europe Limited | OK |
| Argentina | Likely eligible | American Express Argentina S.A. | OK |
| Austria | Likely eligible | — | OK |
| Finland | Likely eligible | — | OK |
| France | Likely eligible | American Express Carte-France | OK |