I tried to enroll my company to Apple Enterprise program, but get message "Cannot enroll in Apple Developer program"

Question

I don't know whether to post this on Stack Overflow or on Ask Different. But please try to help. I know this has been asked on this forum, but none of the answers helps my case.

Here's the situation. I work at a software house which has a client that wants to distribute an app in-house (enterprise). This means the client has to create an Apple ID and enroll to the Enterprise program. The client has created the Apple ID and made sure that the age is over 18. But when they tried to apply for the Enterprise program, they get an error "Cannot enroll in Apple Developer program".

I read from Apple's documentation that a D.U.N.S. number is required. But the problem is, I don't see any field where I should put my D.U.N.S. number. Apple just put a big sentence "Cannot enroll in Apple Developer program" without even providing any solution. I read this article that Apple is supposed to "magically" can pull the D.U.N.S. number from D&B for my client company. Is this the case? The main problem for me is that I don't see any field at all to put the D.U.N.S. number, so in this case I'm worried that I overlooked the important thing or settings to input this, so that the verification process can begin to enable the client's company to create Enterprise account.

Can somebody help me? Thanks.

Answer 1

My advice is:

1. Print out and read carefully - https://developer.apple.com/support/D-U-N-S/
2. Verify the duns number you wish to use with Dunn & Bradstreet. Print out everything - preferably to a PDF so you can copy and paste all details like address, country, exact punctuation for the company name. Joe Schmoe LLC isn't the same as Joe Schmoe, LLC. and will cause delay or a human to intervene.
3. Wait 14 days after any change to D.U.N.S. - they do not synchronize or push changes to Apple. Apple apparently doesn't run a lookup, but instead looks at their cached copy of the data.
4. Keep detailed notes on the AppleID used for institutional use like developer. "Birthday" and security questions are awkward for role based accounts, so be prepared to record them for the business in case you are asked to verify as part of enrollment.
5. On the 15th day, copy and paste the same company details as is in the duns database for your account there when you apply with Apple. Fix mistakes with DUNS before you apply with Apple if at all possible.

Lastly, until you are accepted into the developer program, your escalation to a human is through the store support team. Contact them or your enterprise contact. Most enterprises have a team they can call for advice, use those contacts when you get hung up. Realize that if you aren't an enterprise, trying to look like one may be a difficult or lengthy process.

Answer 2

Yes, you can't specify the DUNS number during enrollment. This is part of the 'due diligence' that Apple has to do themselves, in order to verify that you are really representing a company, instead of 'impersonating' one. They might also get in touch with the person you mentioned to have 'legal authority' for this company.

Basically, with the Enterprise Development Program, you're setting up a legal contract between your company and Apple, and the rules for that are more strict than if you just sign up as an individual.