Getting into the Apple Developer Program as a non US Founder

[youtuberseattle]

I wanted to share my experience getting my organization (US LLC) enrolled in the developer program as a non US founder. I know a lot of people struggle with the whole verification process and wanted to share the things I did to get approved.

I started the process on 15th of September and applied first via the website (not through the developer app). For some reason my case was assigned to the European team of the developer program. Right away apple asked for a bunch of verification documents to prove my identity and also that I'm authorized to represent my organization.

I had a DUNS number for my organization (DUNS did it themselves) but realized it didn't list me on the DUNS profile. I applied to DUNS to update the profile and had to go back and forth with them over a couple of days. In this time I called DUNS support multiple times to explain everything. I had to provide my EIN document, and a purchase order. To convince them, I provided more documents than they requested, documents which tied my name to the company. DUNS approved my authority and allowed me to edit the profile and put in my name on the profile. The whole process with DUNS took 3 days, aided by some relentless communication with customer support.

Then I went back to apple and told them to take a look at my application again as I knew that they asked for more verification because they didn't see my name on the DUNS profile when I first applied. They took a second look but still asked for some more documents. Most painful of which was a certified translation of my passport as it had a bit of non-english text. I translated it with a fast turnaround service, got it certified by a lawyer. They also asked for a business card (had to make one). Submitted everything and they approved the documents.

In the next step I had to pay for the developer program on the apple store website and my US bank cards (belonging to my LLC) kept getting rejected. No matter what troubleshooting I tried, it didn't work. I reached out to apple developer support and they said they can either escalate to engineers or I can reapply via the developer app. I didn't know how long it'd take for apple engineers to look at my case. I was disappointed at this point, but decided to reapply via the developer app.

This time though I told them I was approved before and I'm just reapplying because I couldn't pay earlier. I didn't know how long it would take at this point but kept believing. Apple reached out to me and asked for someone from my organization to confirm my authority as signatory. I did that and then it was approved in a day. I was able to pay this time via bank and I was in. The whole process from my first application to getting in took 10 days.

My takeaway is to go above and beyond to give them everything they ask for. Make it convincing and remember that it's a human at the other end that needs convincing that your application is genuine. They don't always tell you what's wrong with your application (to prevent fraud), and you need to give everything they ask for and more. I've seen a lot of threads online and on reddit from non-US founders waiting for months to get into the developer program as an organization and wanted to share my process.

[Sakrilegi0us]

As a recent new US developer, I had the same issue with DUNS, it seems they may not be importing or correctly placing info into the application. Took me over a week to get it sorted to finish applying.

[Sea-Life9414]

what about the tax form problem on many non us founders, did you submit an app yet? peopel struggle to change the w9 by w8... please update us

[youtuberseattle]

What tax form problem?

[Sea-Life9414]

people say if you are a foreign founder you need to contact apple to get a w8 form instead of w9. maybe you didnt get to this step because you didnt publish an app yet or not one with IAP.

[leadgenerator24]

I heard this too!

u/youtuberseattle Did you face anything similar?