diff --git a/ee/app/models/concerns/approval_rule_like.rb b/ee/app/models/concerns/approval_rule_like.rb
index e8c800a36cae622f90e8ceef9583818e7a214258..c8819d27da8b77c73db2a1f9625714429a5171f7 100644
--- a/ee/app/models/concerns/approval_rule_like.rb
+++ b/ee/app/models/concerns/approval_rule_like.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ module ApprovalRuleLike
     has_and_belongs_to_many :groups,
       class_name: 'Group', join_table: "#{self.table_name}_groups",
       after_add: :audit_add, after_remove: :audit_remove
+
+    has_many :group_members, through: :groups
     has_many :group_users, -> { distinct.allow_cross_joins_across_databases(url: "https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/417457") },
       through: :groups, source: :users
 
@@ -81,6 +83,14 @@ def approvers
     @approvers ||= filter_inactive_approvers(with_role_approvers)
   end
 
+  def approvers_include_user?(user)
+    return false if filter_inactive_approvers([user]).empty?
+
+    relation_exists?(users, column: :id, value: user.id) ||
+      relation_exists?(role_approvers, column: :id, value: user.id) ||
+      relation_exists?(group_members, column: :user_id, value: user.id)
+  end
+
   def code_owner?
     raise NotImplementedError
   end
@@ -128,6 +138,12 @@ def direct_approvers
     end
   end
 
+  def relation_exists?(relation, column:, value:)
+    return relation.exists?({ column => value }) unless relation.loaded?
+
+    relation.detect { |item| item.read_attribute(column) == value }
+  end
+
   def with_role_approvers
     if users.loaded? && group_users.loaded?
       users | group_users | role_approvers
diff --git a/ee/app/models/ee/project.rb b/ee/app/models/ee/project.rb
index 536e848525f0415a3dd30e622c2d1e126b965f42..1bc4bf199916ffdea34b2aaec3b0d9704b073529 100644
--- a/ee/app/models/ee/project.rb
+++ b/ee/app/models/ee/project.rb
@@ -744,11 +744,9 @@ def approvals_before_merge
       super
     end
 
-    def applicable_approval_rules_for_user(user_id, target_branch = nil)
+    def applicable_approval_rules_for_user(user, target_branch = nil)
       visible_approval_rules(target_branch: target_branch).select do |rule|
-        rule.approvers
-          .allow_cross_joins_across_databases(url: "https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/417461")
-          .pluck(:id).include?(user_id)
+        rule.approvers_include_user?(user)
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/ee/app/serializers/ee/user_entity.rb b/ee/app/serializers/ee/user_entity.rb
index 578ae86e922cf5e57ee301e6dc9a596192b4d394..ada28b68131dac518b766a5fc1d16956cc2d0d13 100644
--- a/ee/app/serializers/ee/user_entity.rb
+++ b/ee/app/serializers/ee/user_entity.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ module UserEntity
 
     prepended do
       expose :applicable_approval_rules, if: proc { |_, options| options[:project]&.feature_available?(:merge_request_approvers) && options[:approval_rules] }, using: ::EE::API::Entities::ApprovalRuleShort do |user, options|
-        options[:project]&.applicable_approval_rules_for_user(user.id, options[:target_branch])
+        options[:project]&.applicable_approval_rules_for_user(user, options[:target_branch])
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/ee/spec/models/concerns/approval_rule_like_spec.rb b/ee/spec/models/concerns/approval_rule_like_spec.rb
index 0c0ee82a0667a776f5cf2c1dfc6d01faad95ba5d..8d228d31c53f3f5df2bbe29268071f1bc44c1083 100644
--- a/ee/spec/models/concerns/approval_rule_like_spec.rb
+++ b/ee/spec/models/concerns/approval_rule_like_spec.rb
@@ -15,20 +15,56 @@
   let(:subject_traits) { [] }
 
   shared_examples 'approval rule like' do
-    describe '#approvers' do
-      let(:group1_user) { create(:user) }
-      let(:group2_user) { create(:user) }
+    let(:group1_user) { create(:user) }
+    let(:group2_user) { create(:user) }
+
+    before do
+      subject.users << user1
+      subject.users << user2
+      subject.groups << group1
+      subject.groups << group2
+
+      group1.add_guest(group1_user)
+      group2.add_guest(group2_user)
+    end
+
+    describe '#approvers_include_user?' do
+      let(:rule) { subject.class.find(subject.id) }
 
-      before do
-        subject.users << user1
-        subject.users << user2
-        subject.groups << group1
-        subject.groups << group2
+      it 'returns true for a contained user' do
+        expect(rule.approvers_include_user?(user1)).to be_truthy
+      end
 
-        group1.add_guest(group1_user)
-        group2.add_guest(group2_user)
+      it 'returns true for a group user' do
+        expect(rule.approvers_include_user?(group1_user)).to be_truthy
       end
 
+      it 'returns false for a missing user' do
+        expect(rule.approvers_include_user?(user3)).to be_falsey
+      end
+
+      context 'when the user relations are already loaded' do
+        it 'returns true for a contained user' do
+          rule.users.to_a
+
+          expect(rule.approvers_include_user?(user1)).to be_truthy
+        end
+
+        it 'returns true for a group user' do
+          rule.group_members.to_a
+
+          expect(rule.approvers_include_user?(group1_user)).to be_truthy
+        end
+
+        it 'returns false for a missing user' do
+          rule.users.to_a
+
+          expect(rule.approvers_include_user?(user3)).to be_falsey
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+    describe '#approvers' do
       shared_examples 'approvers contains the right users' do
         it 'contains users as direct members and group members' do
           rule = subject.class.find(subject.id)
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/all_models.yml b/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/all_models.yml
index 4a6924b43a89d0a90981b146d6769981a04613c7..a5b26acbf6e31509c0fd7735f1914b8001806a8d 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/all_models.yml
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/all_models.yml
@@ -1060,6 +1060,7 @@ approval_rules:
   - users
   - groups
   - group_users
+  - group_members
   - security_orchestration_policy_configuration
   - protected_branches
   - approval_merge_request_rule_sources