Google's New Verification Hurdles: Struggling to Set Up a Developer Account with a U.S. LLC as a Foreign Founder

Google's new verification policies for Play Store developers are making life tougher, especially for small developers and those operating internationally.

I wanted to avoid using a personal developer account to keep my home address private. So, I set up a U.S.-based LLC, got a DUNS number, a U.S. address, and phone number, and created a new developer account.

During verification, I provided my Certificate of Incorporation, which includes my name. When asked for personal ID, I selected India as my country and uploaded my passport. The problem came next: entering an address. The country field is locked to the company's registration country—the U.S. It seems the person providing the ID must reside in the same country as the company. Since my company is in the U.S. and I'm in India, this is a major roadblock.

Google's policy states that the ID for verification must be a government-issued ID from the same country as the developer account and payment profile. This means someone from your organization, based in the same country as the organization and possessing a government ID from there, must complete the verification.

Has anyone else faced this issue? Is there a workaround?

It feels like Google is making it increasingly difficult for small developers to publish apps to a broad audience. With their control over Android and the Play Store, they hold a monopoly that seems to be squeezing out the little guys.