Solspace user registration isn't setting group id correctly

Question

I have a registration form which allows admins of my site to register new members. The form itself is functioning fine however the member group is always defaulting to Pending (ID:4).

Here's the form:

{exp:user:register admin_register="yes" allowed_groups="5|6|7|8|9" return="members"}
    <div class="row profile">
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label for="username">Username</label>
            <input type="text" name="username" id="username">

            <label for="email">Email</label>
            <input type="email" name="email" id="email" >

            <label for="password">Password</label>
            <input type="password" name="password" />

            <label for="password-confirm">Confirm Password</label>
            <input type="password" name="password_confirm" id="password-confirm">

            <label for="member-group">Member Group</label>
            <select name="group_id" id="member-group" class="styled-select">
                {select_member_groups}
                    <option value="{group_id}">{group_title}</option>
                {/select_member_groups}
            </select>

            <label for="client">Associated Client</label>
            <select name="client" id="client" class="styled-select">
                {embed="clients/_associated" client="{client}"}
            </select> 

            <label for="sceen-name">Screen Name <small>This will be displayed on the site</small></label>
            <input type="text" name="screen_name" id="screen-name" >

            <label for="occupation">Occupation</label>
            <input type="text" name="occupation" id="occupation" >

            <label for="bio">Bio</label>
            <textarea id="bio" name="bio"></textarea>

            <label for="location">Location</label>
            <input type="text" name="location" id="location" >

            <input type="submit" id="save" value="Save">
        </div>
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label for="file">Add Profile Pic</label>
            <input type="file" id="file" name="avatar_filename">

            <ul class="edit">
                <li>
                    <label for="facebook">Facebook</label>
                    <input type="text" name="facebook" id="facebook" >
                </li>
                <li>
                    <label for="twitter">Twitter</label>
                    <input type="text" name="twitter" id="twitter" >
                </li>
                <li>
                    <label for="linkedin">LinkedIn</label>
                    <input type="text" name="linkedin" id="linkedin">
                </li>
                <li>
                    <label for="website">Website</label>
                    <input type="text" name="url" id="website"></li>
            </ul>
            <input type="hidden" name="notifications" value="Opt in" />
            <input type="hidden" name="accept_terms" value="y" />
        </div>
    </div>
{/exp:user:register}

As I say, everything else in the form fills out correctly, it is only the group_id that keeps defaulting to 4. The strange thing is I have an edit form too, which is more or less identical (see below), and upon submitting that the group_id will update correctly.

Here are the differences with the edit form:

Opening tag

{exp:user:edit allowed_groups="5|6|7|8|9" return="profile/{segment_3}"}

Member Group Select

<label for="member-group">Member Group</label>
<select name="group_id" id="member-group" class="styled-select">
    {select_member_groups}
        <option value="{group_id}" {selected}>{group_title}</option>
    {/select_member_groups}
</select>

I have tried the following:

• Added member groups manually (not using the select_member_groups tag).
• Removing the styled-select class which returns the select back to its default styling.
• Disabled any custom extensions that hook into the registration process.
• Added a text field with the id as value.
• I've also tried changing allowed_groups to group_id=""

All of the above still result in the member group remaining as Pending (ID:4)

Has anyone got any ideas?

Answer 1

In the Members > Preferences > Require Member Account Activation? field it sounds like you have selected Self-activation via email which will set all new members to Pending until they have activated their account.

This prevents fake email addresses from being able to access member specific areas before the activation.

You can either set the field to No activation required which will put people in the proper group or need to send out the activation email.