The United States is a country founded by immigrants. Since its inception, America has drawn people from around the globe, all eager to start new lives and achieve greater prosperity.

But new immigrants face many serious challenges when they first arrive in America and in the years that follow. One of the biggest and most overlooked: The struggle for good credit scores.

The problem for new immigrants is that a lot of the credit you likely built up in your country of origin will unfortunately not be recognized the big three U.S. credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You could have an excellent credit score in your home country, built up over many years, and yet still need to improve your credit significantly as soon as your arrive in the U.S. Is that fair? No. But there's simply no way around it.

Fortunately, though, you can rebuild your credit. In the first blog in this series, we offered three tips for millennials aiming to improve their credit scores. Today, we'll do the same for immigrants.

1. Turn to nontraditional credit first
We've talked before about nontraditional credit, but it's worth reiterating here since it's so important for immigrants looking to build up their credit scores. Building up credit the traditional way when you have a low credit score - or no credit score at all - is incredibly difficult. Why? Because you often need a high or at least average credit score to apply for different types of credit in the first place. It's a vicious circle - you won't qualify for a car loan, for example, because of your low credit rating, but then you can't boost your credit rating by making regular, on-time payments on your car loan!

Nontraditional credit offers an opportunity for immigrants to get around this roadblock. PRBC and other nontraditional credit types take into account a much broader range of financial behavior, such as payments for utilities and rent. Responsibly paying off these debts will build up an excellent nontraditional score. You can then find businesses - such as car dealerships - that recognize PRBC, and that opens the door to building up a traditional credit score.

2. Work with family
Another way for you to improve your credit score is by working with a family member who was already in the U.S. As Discover pointed out, if a relative has good credit (and is willing), she can add you as an authorized user on her credit card and/or co-sign a loan for you.

That's essentially a shortcut to getting approval, and will allow you to start building up and improving your own credit score almost immediately. 

Of course, as Discover pointed out, this strategy requires a lot of trust and confidence on the part of your relative, since any payments you miss will be counted against her. And, of course, this is only possible if you actually have relatives in the country before you arrive. 

Family can help you improve your credit.

3. Apply for - and use - a credit card
Regardless of whether you have a relative who can authorize you as a credit card user or not, you're going to want to apply for your own credit card. Depending on where you're from, this may seem like unfamiliar territory, as Nerd Wallet contributor Lindsay Konsko noted.  At the same time, though, using a credit card is one of the best ways to build up traditional credit - so long as you don't overspend and pay your balance on-time and in full every month.