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.
