For some reason, I can't seem to find an answer to this question despite a lot of searching on the web. Is my Google Fu weak?

So, the question is, once someone is retired and no longer working, can they get new credit? Specifically, I'm thinking of a new credit card.

Common sense seems to imply that it's obvious that "no income" = "no new credit" but banks don't seem to operate under common sense rules anymore so I need to double check for someone.

This person has hit a rough patch due to the economy and is considering using a "0% APR for 12 months" balance transfer to save on interest charges. And in the meantime, he anticipates that he'll have to retire due to his health before that year is up but will try to pay that balance off before then. Realistically, though, it's not unreasonable to assume that he'll still have a sizable balance before that year is up, so I'm trying to help him anticipate what his options are if he gets to that point. A person who is still working could look for a second balance transfer to give him more time to pay it off, but I had never considered the case where the person just retired so I'm not sure if that option is available to him.

Because if he won't be able to get that second balance transfer because he has retired, then I think he could very well be better off not doing the first balance transfer at all since he'll be hit with sky high interest rates at the end of the 12 months and in the end, may end up on the hook for even more in interest payments.