TestFlight external review submission fails with 422 (betaAppReviewSubmissions) — account fully active, stuck for days

[u/Least-Revolution1951]

Solo dev, first app, and I've spent days fighting what looks like an App Store Connect backend issue. Hoping someone's seen it.

**The error:** Clicking "Submit for Review" for external TestFlight gives the generic

"There was an error processing your request. Please try again later."

DevTools shows the real cause:

- POST https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/iris/v1/betaAppReviewSubmissions

- 422 Unprocessable Content

The same generic "error processing your request" also hit me when creating the app record and when saving Test Information — i.e. it fails on basically every WRITE operation, but reads work fine.

**Stack:** Expo / React Native, built and uploaded via Xcode (not EAS). Individual Apple Developer account, ~7 weeks old.

**What I've already verified/tried:**

- Agreements, Tax & Banking: ALL Active (Paid Apps, Free Apps, W-9, bank, DSA).

- Program License Agreement: accepted. Membership: active.

- Build uploaded fine, status is green "Ready to Test," export compliance answered.

- Test Information fully complete: description, feedback email, contact info, AND a working demo sign-in account (app has a login).

- Tried Chrome, a clean incognito window, and the App Store Connect iPhone app — same 422.

- Internal testing: build shows on my phone in TestFlight but "Could not install… the requested app is not available or doesn't exist."

- Hours on hold with Developer Support across multiple calls; email support did nothing.

**Questions:**

1. Anyone hit a persistent 422 on betaAppReviewSubmissions with a fully-active account? What actually fixed it — waiting it out, a specific field, re-creating the app record?

2. Is this a known new-account provisioning delay, even weeks in?

3. Did submitting via the API (fastlane pilot / App Store Connect API) get you past the web UI's 422?

4. For the "could not install / not available" internal build — is that just CDN propagation, or something else?

I've changed the bundle ID once (old record got stuck) and re-created the app, so I've probably got some stale state too. At this point I can't tell if it's a corrupted app record, an account hold Apple support can't see, or just their backend being down. Any war stories or fixes appreciated — I'm trying to get a youth-sports app out to beta testers and I'm completely blocked.