I'm guessing your in the bay area? Goto the bank of america close to the stanford mall (which is next door to stanford), open an ebanking checking account and credit card. There is a canadian credit program that BoA has that should give you a ~$2000 credit limit card. Most BoA people are fairly clueless (Stanford mall BoA employees are pretty good!), but they do have it. If you can't go there, ask the BoA retail banker to look up the "Diplomat, Large Corporate and Canadian Client Consumer Credit Card Special Handling Form" and the "Bank of America credit card application - BankAmericard Power Rewards Visa Card Diplomat, Large Corporate and Canadian Clients" and they'll have to fill out a W-8BEN since you haven't had a US tax return yet. They'll also need your employment verification letter (your address on the letter will also help), your passport with your visa, your Canadian SIN and your american SSN.

Citibank also has a program where if your a 'newcommer' and can show proof of $1000-$2000 average balance in an american bank account for 3 months or $5000+ in a canadian bank account for 6+ months, they will give you a credit card. They'll need the employment verification letter with your total compensation and address (and passport, and SSN card, and other standard things). If I'm guessing your wage correctly you can get a $9000+ credit limit card from citi. I went to a citibank on El Camino close to Stanford.

Thirdly, Capital One has a newcommer card. I just filled out the application for that online and I got a $500 limit card. I think you just need a new/blank SSN for that one to work. If you can actually talk to an actual person, you might be able to get a better credit limit. They also offered to open a secured card with me when I talked to them on the phone.

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/newcomer-credit-card/

Also if you've had an RBC account for 6+ months in Canada, you can get an american credit card from them over the phone. They're a big PITA about it although so I eventually didn't go that route. HSBC premier clients can get sweet credit transfer services worldwide, the US included. I was told in Canada that they do credit transfers after having any sort of account for 3 months with them, but the HSBC banker said they thought only premier clients could get that (that was at the palo alto branch where ~90% of their clients are premier clients, on a barely staffed saturday, so she said she might be wrong). On the east coast TD bank also has a much larger presence, but they will only service you if you live on the east coast. Also American Express canada will also transfer your card over to the US if you've had a card with them in Canada. Also applying for those airline credit cards inside airports and W-8BEN and the employment letter might work too.

If you want to avoid credit checks most of the time, go room mates and explain you just moved from canada. As long as you have a job most roommates don't care about credit histories. People in the bay area are big flakes about roommates, pounce on it and get it setup (deposit and all) right there if you like the place.

Also, best kind of banking there is BoA ebanking for atm cash/check deposits and charles schwab for your paycheck/main account. Schwab refunds all ATM fees worldwide and they don't charge a currency exchange spread, unlike the %2-3 you get everywhere. Great for whenever you fly back to Canada, or travel anywhere in the world. They don't give duplicate cards although, you have to open another free account with them to do that.