Transfer Individual Apple Developer membership to Company on iTunes App Store without repaying
I am currently registered as an individual Apple Developer on the App Store and have a free app which is available under my name.
My membership is due for renewal in a few days. However, I have registered my company and would like to distribute the app under the company name on the App Store. As I understand, registering as a organisation with Apple requires a D-U-N-S number.
Should I renew as Individual and ask for conversion to Company name (once D-U-N-S number for my company is available). If so, will I have to repay the US$ 99 fee when converting from Individual to Company Developer Program?
Wait for the D-U-N-S number and register directly under Organisation Developer Program?
I have already read this and this discussion, but they don't explain if one should repay to upgrade.
What are my current options?
The recommended solution in this scenario would be to contact Apple Developer Support and seek assistance. Quoting from the official Apple Developer Account Management Support page:
Can I switch my membership from an individual to an organization?
Yes, if you are the founder/co-founder of the organization. To start the conversion process, please contact us. You may be asked to submit business documents to verify your company's identity.
Can I transfer my app to another account?
Yes. Use iTunes Connect to transfer qualifying apps to another account in case of an acquisition, asset purchase, or other similar situation. When you transfer an app, it will remain available on the App Store or Mac App Store, all ratings and reviews will carry over, and users will continue to have access to future updates. To learn more about transferring apps, sign in to iTunes Connect.
From the above statements, it can be safely suggested to pay and renew the membership before it expires (in case you are not able to contact Apple Support before the due date). Later when you have the D-U-N-S number and the appropriate documents handy, you can proceed with switching to organisation account.
There's now a specific form for this.
https://developer.apple.com/contact/submit/?entityType=individual&requestType=migrateAccount
You can get to it from the Membership section of the Developer portal, and clicking Need to edit this information? in the bottom right corner.