A pending request in Meta Business Suite is waiting on someone with full control of the business portfolio. To approve it, go to Settings in Meta Business Suite, open Requests in the left menu and find the request under the received or frequently used requests list. Click Approve, review who asked and what access they'd get, then confirm. Requests to add a person expire after 30 days if nobody approves them.
- Pending almost always means the request is waiting on a person with full control of the business portfolio. Page-level control isn't enough.
- Everything lives in Settings › Requests now. Pending items also show as a banner at the top of your business portfolio home.
- A request to add a person expires in 30 days. After that you send a fresh invite.
- Approving the request isn't the last step. The person still has to accept the email invite, and you still have to assign them assets.
What "pending" actually means
Meta uses the word pending for a few different things, and each one gets cleared in a different place. Figure out which one you have first. It saves a lot of clicking.
Someone in your portfolio without full control invited a person. A full-control person has to approve it before Meta sends the invite.
The invite went out, but the person hasn't clicked the link in their email yet. Nothing for you to approve. They need to accept.
Another business asked for access to your Page or ad account, or asked you to share assets. You approve it from Requests.
A business asked for access to your Facebook Page. Anyone with full control of the Page can approve it from the Page or from Requests.
Where pending requests show up now
Meta says you can reach requests and invitations from two places. Use whichever you see first.
Your business portfolio home
Pending requests show as a banner at the top of the home screen in Meta Business Suite.
Settings › Requests
This is the full list. Click Settings in the bottom of the left menu, then Requests.
| Tab inside Requests | What's in it | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Received | Requests other people and businesses sent you, with the assets and access level they want | Approve or decline |
| Sent | Requests your business sent to others | Check status or cancel |
| Invitations | Invites your people sent, who invited whom and when each one expires | Resend or cancel |
How to approve a request to add a person
This is the classic "invitation request sent for approval" case. You need full control of the business portfolio. Here are the steps as of November 2026, on a computer.
Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite
Make sure the right portfolio is selected in the top left dropdown first.
Click Requests, then Frequently used requests
If you don't see Requests at all, you don't have full control of this portfolio.
Find the request and click Approve
You'll see who made the request, the email being invited, the assets and the access level.
Review the details and click Approve request
If the access level looks wrong, approve and change it later, or decline and send a new invite with the right access.
Click Done
Meta sends the invite. The person shows as invited until they accept it from their email.
How to approve an agency or partner request
When an agency asks for access to your Page or ad account, the request sits in your portfolio until someone with full control answers it. Meta doesn't tell the requester who that person is, so they can't chase the right person. That's why these sit for weeks.
Go to Settings, then Requests
Look under Received, or Other requests if that's what your account shows.
Check who's asking and what they want
You'll see the business name, the assets and the permissions. If you don't know the business, decline it.
Click Approve
If the partner asked you to share assets, you can choose which assets and permissions to give them before you confirm.
Faster: give the partner access yourself
You don't have to wait for a request. Ask your agency for their business portfolio ID, then share the assets directly.
Settings › Users › Partners
Partners only shows up if you have full control.
Click Add, then Give a partner access to your assets
Enter the partner's business portfolio ID and click Next.
Pick the assets and access level, then click Assign assets
Partial access is usually enough. Your partner can then assign their own team members to the tasks you allowed.
How partner access flows
Approve a request from the Facebook Page itself
If a business asked for access to your Page and you have full control of that Page, you can also approve it from the Page.
Open your Page and click Settings
Switch into the Page first, then find Settings in the left menu.
Click Page setup, then Next beside Page access
This shows people and businesses with access, plus pending requests.
Click Review request, then Next
Check the business and what it's asking for.
Click Accept
Meta may ask for your Facebook password again before it goes through.
If you're the one who was invited
Approving is only half of it. The invited person has to accept before anything shows up for them.
- Find the email invite from Meta and click Log in to accept invitation.
- Click Log in with Facebook or Log in with Instagram. Use the account you want tied to this business.
- Enter your first and last name the way you want it to show in the portfolio, then click Continue.
- Review the portfolio and its assets. If you don't recognize the business, decline.
- Click Accept invitation. You'll land on the Meta Business Suite home page.
Still stuck? Troubleshooting pending requests
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No Requests, People or Partners in Settings | You have partial access, not full control | Ask a full-control person to approve it, or to upgrade your access. |
| Request vanished | It expired after 30 days, or someone else already approved or declined it | Check the Invitations tab, then resend or send a new invite. |
| Person says they never got the email | Wrong email, or it went to spam | Cancel and resend from Invitations, using the email they log in with. |
| Accepted, but they can't see the Page or ad account | No assets assigned yet | Users › People › their name › Assign assets. |
| Nobody at the company has full control | The person who set it up left | Meta lets you submit a request to regain full control of a business portfolio. Start in Business support home. |
| Agency can't find who to ask | Meta won't tell requesters who can approve, for privacy | The owner has to look in Settings › Requests. Send them this page. |
How we handle access with our clients
When we start running ads for a client, we ask them to share access with our business portfolio as a partner, rather than adding our people one by one. The client keeps full control and ownership of every asset. We only ask for the permissions the work needs, and the client can remove our access anytime.
If your ad account, Page and pixel are a tangle of old logins and former employees, we'll help sort it out as part of our ads and tracking setup. New to all of this? Start with our guide on how to create a Meta ads account.
Questions people ask
Why does my Meta Business Suite invite say pending?
Either the invite is waiting for someone with full control of the business portfolio to approve it, or it's been sent and the person hasn't accepted it from their email yet. Check Settings, then Requests, to see which.
Where are pending requests in Meta Business Suite?
Go to Settings and click Requests in the left menu. Meta also shows pending requests as a banner at the top of your business portfolio home page.
Who can approve a request in Meta Business Suite?
Requests to add people or share portfolio assets need someone with full control of the business portfolio. Page access requests can also be approved by someone with full control of that Page.
How long does a Meta business portfolio request last?
Meta says a request to add a person must be approved within 30 days or it expires. You can then send a new invite or ask the original requester to resend it.
Why can't I see Requests in Meta Business Suite settings?
You probably don't have full control of the business portfolio. Ask a full-control person to approve the request or to change your access.
Rob built Feedbackwrench and Nuance Financial Tax & Accounting. Since 2015, our team has helped transform 550+ small businesses with marketing, strategy and systems.
