Newbee! Glad you made it to HK! I just went through the same thing! I applied for a Citibank card and it took more than 4 weeks to process even though I'm a PR. I just got the card on Friday. While waiting for the CIticard (and they were never able to tell me how long it would take to process), I applied for an Amex as well and they said it would take about 10 days to process. We shall see. I just faxed in application a week ago. I ended up paying almost everything by cash and visited the ATM machine almost daily or with my USD credit card.