Individual developer enrollment fails: AlternativeBusinessContact is required, but no such field is shown

Question

I am enrolling as an Individual developer in Microsoft Partner Center / Store developer registration.

I completed all visible required fields, including:

• Publisher display name
• Personal information
• Contact information
• Address information

The address is verified successfully.

However, the enrollment workflow keeps failing with the error:

"Enrollment workflow failed: AlternativeBusinessContact is required"

The issue is that there is no visible field or section on the enrollment/profile page to enter an Alternative Business Contact for the Individual enrollment flow.

It appears the backend requires AlternativeBusinessContact, but the frontend does not expose that field.

Please check whether this is a platform-side enrollment bug and advise how I can proceed.

Answer 1

Request:

Please confirm whether this is a platform-side bug in the Individual enrollment flow.

If possible, please either:

1. remove the AlternativeBusinessContact requirement for my enrollment, or
2. manually populate/reset that field on the backend so I can continue enrollment.

Answer 2

This issue cannot be resolved from the enrollment UI and requires direct support intervention, as the available documentation and flows do not expose an AlternativeBusinessContact field for individual accounts.

The documented registration flows for developer programs in Partner Center (for example, Microsoft Edge extensions and Microsoft Collaborate) only require:

• Account country/region
• Account type (Individual or Company)
• Publisher display name
• Contact info (single primary contact)

No additional “Alternative Business Contact” field is described for individual accounts, and required contact fields are explicitly listed where applicable (for example, support contact info and phone/address for certain markets or offer types). This indicates that a backend requirement for AlternativeBusinessContact without a corresponding UI field is a platform-side issue.

To proceed:

1. Capture evidence of the problem
   • Take screenshots of the completed enrollment page showing all required fields filled and the absence of any “Alternative Business Contact” field.
   • Capture the exact error text: Enrollment workflow failed: AlternativeBusinessContact is required.
2. Open a support case with Microsoft
   • Use the Partner Center / certification / account support channel appropriate for the program being joined (for example, Partner Center account or certification support as shown in similar issues).
   • In the ticket, clearly state:
     • Enrollment type: Individual developer
     • Program: Microsoft Partner Center / Store developer registration
     • That the UI does not expose any Alternative Business Contact field, but the backend requires it.
     • Attach the screenshots and error message.
3. Ask support to:
   • Confirm this as a platform-side enrollment bug for individual accounts.
   • Either:
     • Manually set or clear the AlternativeBusinessContact field on the account, or
     • Temporarily adjust the enrollment workflow for the account so that the requirement is removed or satisfied.

Until support updates the account or the workflow, the enrollment cannot be completed from the client side because there is no documented or visible way to provide the required AlternativeBusinessContact value for an individual account.

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References:

• Register as a Microsoft Edge extension developer
• Registration
• Enter add-on properties
• Configure Managed Service offer listing details
• Missing certification while exam passed - Microsoft Q&A
• Legal Name - Microsoft Q&A