> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.groupflow.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Reviewing Member Applications

> Approving, holding, and declining applications, and what to do when a declined applicant comes back

When someone applies to join your group, their application waits for you under **Member Applications** in the admin menu. Reviewing applications needs the [**Members Management**](/concepts/admin-permissions#what-each-permission-grants) permission.

## Finding applications

**Member Applications** lists applications in two sections:

* **New Applications** — applications waiting for a decision
* **Processed Applications** — the 50 most recent applications that were approved or declined

Open an application to see the applicant's answers, their photo, and the membership plan they chose.

## Approving or declining

On the application, choose a letter under **Approval or Decline Letter**. You can edit the letter before sending it, and **Manage Letters** lets you change the letters you choose from. Then set **Approval Status** and press **Save**:

| Approval Status | What happens |
| - | - |
| **Pending** | The status every application starts with: no one has reviewed it yet. The application stays in **New Applications**. |
| **On Hold** | Tells the other reviewers that someone has looked at the application and it's waiting on something, such as a better photo. The application stays in **New Applications**. |
| **Approved** | The applicant becomes a member and is sent your letter. Their application answers and photo are copied into their [member profile](/concepts/members-profiles-privacy). |
| **Declined** | The applicant is sent your letter, and the application moves to **Processed Applications**. |

Until you approve or decline it, the applicant can still change their answers. See [Creating Your Account](/member-docs/creating-account#applying-to-join).

## When a declined applicant comes back

Say you declined an application because the photo didn't meet your group's requirements, and the applicant then sends you a photo that does.

Ask them to apply again. Their earlier answers carry over to the new application, so they can skip ahead to the photo question, upload the new photo, and submit. You then approve the new application as usual.

## Don't make an applicant a member by hand

You can change a person's status to member in **Members & Users** without approving an application, but their application answers and photo are not copied into their profile when you do. Their profile starts out without the answers and photo they gave you.


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