i have homes in 2 countries and wish to access the country specific app store from either location

You can't do it at the same time. Things just aren't set up for the tiny number of people in your situation. You will end up having to do the process in the link below.

"Change your Apple ID country or region" - https://support.apple.com/HT201389

Do a search for the terms "home country" in the link below and you will find that conditions are pretty country-specific.

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.

If you want to, you can send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem or a suggestion for change. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem/suggested change solved sooner. Pick the closest topic you can find.

Click here to send Feedback          

I don’t think the number of us in this predicament is that tiny. Many of us have homes in two countries and that includes, bank accounts, insurance, government (both local and national) apps for taxes, local shops, etc which at present half of them cannot be downloaded because of the region setting but if we change region then we’d have the same issue on the other country?

What’d be the big problem for Apple to let users choose 2 or 3 “countries”, even if we had to prove residency in all of them? The current system seems so outdated!

It's tiny.

1) Simple geometry defines that few people live in border areas vs. interior areas and even if you do you do not have residency in the neighboring country. I used to live in such an area and we'd do all our shopping in the other country and most people worked there, but they did not allow residency.

2) Not many people have true, legal residency in two countries. Most countries do not allow it and require you to choose one or the other as a primary residence (i.e., what Apple calls a Home Country). Even in places such as the EU you are still a resident of a particular country. Just because you may have a second house in another country does not necessarily define that legally as a second primary residence.

The problem is each country still has its own laws as regards to copyright and the various media agencies control media distribution.

As already indicated, if you are unhappy about it then complain to Apple.

Thanks Eric, I’ve done that! It’s a bit like “writing a letter” but I guess it’s something at least...

You are welcome.