I don't think your situation with getting a credit card is unique to HSBC. You will have to establish a credit rating in Canada from scratch
having moved overseas, and more recently to the US, I can tell you that one countries credit rating has no help in getting credit in another country.
Each time I had to have a bank account with direct deposit of my salary in good standing for a couple months before the bank would give me the most basic (highest interest rate) credit card with the smallest available credit (~$500). After a year of paying off the balance in full every month, it was very easy to get any card I wanted with plenty of available credit.
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