Error when registering for Apple Developer Program

Long story short, I've been trying to register for the Apple Developer Program for a few days with no luck.

I keep getting a "We're unable to process your request message", with the following network response:

{"responseId":"ed009d41-2d2c-4212-98cf-e44fe0f882d8",
"resultCode":202018,
"resultString":"Your request could not be processed",
"userString":"Your request could not be processed",
"creationTimestamp":"2022-03-05T19:01:01Z",
"userLocale":"en_US",
"requestUrl":"https://developer.apple.com/services-enrollment/submitIndividualEnrollment",
"httpCode":406}

I have looked through various threads on this, e.g. here but none of the suggested solutions help.

To make things more interesting, Apple also insists that I'm trying to register as a company even though I'm an individual (I always get redirected to https://developer.apple.com/enroll/organization/details/edit/signing-authority when I go to https://developer.apple.com/enroll).

I am at my wits end - I've tried using a different AppleID, updating personal details and payment methods, using different browsers, different devices, and using the Developer app (the developer app tells me that my apple ID can't be used to enrol via the app). I can see that the "userLocale" in the http response is wrong; I'm UK-based but my AppleID reflects this so I don't know what else I can do about this.

The Apple team hasn't been helpful so far and say that there is nothing wrong with my account.

Does this effectively mean that I've wasted 3 months of my life building an app that I can't now publish?

Update: I kept refreshing the page and magically managed to get through a confirmation screen. I clicked on purchase hoping that it would confirm and it gave me the same error message. Got this in the console:

If there are any add-on anti-malware apps installed, or add-on VPN apps, or add-on cleaner apps installed, or similar, remove all of those per the vendors’ instructions, restart, and try again.

Had the same problem, had to change the 2FA telephone number, as it was in a different country. After this, I was able to proceed.

Error when registering for Apple Developer Program
 
 
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