I recently went through Organization enrollment for a newly formed U.S. single-member LLC (Wyoming, foreign/non-resident owner) and wanted to share the experience in case others have run into the same wall — and to ask if anyone has found a way through it.
Some context on the formation itself: the LLC was formed through a registered agent service, using their free template documents (Articles of Organization, Operating Agreement, Initial Resolutions). The Operating Agreement's member signature is an electronically-generated script-style signature from the registered agent's online document tool, not a wet-ink signature.
Timeline, roughly:
- Company formed, EIN obtained, D-U-N-S number obtained and confirmed via email from Apple Developer Relations.
- Submitted Organization enrollment (Entity Type = Organization, D-U-N-S + legal entity name/address matching the state formation documents). Verification Contact was myself, as I'm the sole member and have full signing authority.
- ~2 weeks later, received a document request via Developer Support (passport, employment/role verification, and a business registration document). Submitted the requested documents, including the Operating Agreement as supporting evidence of sole-member status.
- Received a follow-up requesting the same documents again, citing that the Operating Agreement "was not notarized." Re-submitted with a signed (printed, hand-signed, and re-scanned) employment/role verification letter, and the state-issued Certificate of Organization more clearly labeled as the primary business document. The Operating Agreement itself was still only electronically signed, not notarized.
- Shortly after, the enrollment status changed to "declined" in the account, with no reason given beyond a generic note about enrolling as an individual instead.
- Called Developer Support by phone to ask for clarification. Was told the decision is final and not subject to appeal — no reason would be provided.
Since then I've audited a few things that might plausibly have contributed (all now fixed or in progress): our company website's legal pages (Privacy Policy/Terms) had stale placeholder text that didn't match the legal entity name/address on file; our registered agent's address is a widely shared virtual address used by many other LLCs; and enrollment was submitted the same day the D-U-N-S number was confirmed, possibly before D&B → Apple data sync completed.
One open question I haven't resolved: whether an electronically-generated signature (trackpad/e-signature, not wet-ink) on a private document like an Operating Agreement is fundamentally treated as "not notarized" regardless of how it's signed — i.e., the gap isn't print-vs-handwrite, it's that notarization requires an independent third party (notary) to certify the copy as a true copy of the original, which no signature method alone satisfies. If that's correct, submitting the Operating Agreement at all (rather than relying solely on the state-issued Certificate of Organization, which doesn't require notarization) may have been the wrong move from the start.
Has anyone else (particularly solo founders / foreign-owned LLCs using a registered agent's template documents) hit a "final decision, no appeal" wall like this? Specifically curious about:
- Whether Apple's reviewers actually require notarization of documents like an Operating Agreement, or whether submitting only the state-issued formation certificate (already an official government document) is sufficient and the Operating Agreement should be left out entirely.
- Whether there's any cooldown period before a fresh enrollment attempt is accepted, or if it's fine to reapply immediately once the underlying issues are fixed.
- Whether starting fresh with a different Apple ID makes any difference, or whether risk signals are tied to the D-U-N-S/legal entity rather than the account.
Appreciate any insight from people who've been through this.
