How to Allow Tenant 1 Users to Join Tenant 2 Teams Meetings Without Lobby Admission.

Configure mutual external access between Tenant 1 and Tenant 2, then set the Tenant 2 organizers’ Who can bypass the lobby policy to People in my org, trusted orgs, and guests.

1. Establish mutual external-access trust

This configuration must be completed in both tenants; otherwise, Tenant 1 users can be treated as anonymous when joining Tenant 2 meetings.

In Tenant 2:

1. Open the Teams admin center.
2. Go to Users → External access.
3. Under Teams and Skype for Business users in external organizations, select Allow only specific external domains.
4. Select Add external domains.
5. Enter Tenant 1’s verified domain, select Done, and save.

Repeat these steps in Tenant 1, adding Tenant 2’s domain. Both the organization-level setting and the applicable user external-access policy must permit access.^1^

If either tenant already uses Allow all external domains, explicit allow-listing is unnecessary unless tighter domain restrictions are required. Ensure neither tenant blocks the other tenant’s domain.

2. Configure lobby bypass in Tenant 2

The policy applies to the Tenant 2 meeting organizer, not the Tenant 1 attendees:

1. In the Tenant 2 Teams admin center, go to Meetings → Meeting policies.
2. Open the policy assigned to the relevant Tenant 2 meeting organizers.
3. Expand Meeting join & lobby.
4. Set Who can bypass the lobby to:
   • People in my org, trusted orgs, and guests — allows authenticated Tenant 1 users to enter directly after mutual external access is established.
5. Select Save.
6. Allow up to 24 hours for the policy change to take effect.^2^

This option does not let anonymous participants bypass the lobby. Tenant 1 users must join while signed in with their Tenant 1 work or school accounts.

3. Validate the effective configuration

Create a new Tenant 2 meeting and test with a Tenant 1 user:

• The meeting must be organized by a Tenant 2 user who receives the updated meeting policy.
• The Tenant 1 participant must join while signed in to Teams with the Tenant 1 account.
• The participant should appear as an authenticated user from a trusted organization and enter without admission.
• If the participant appears anonymous or waits in the lobby, check:
  • External access permits the other domain in both tenants.
  • The organization-level external-access setting and user policy both permit the affected users.
  • The correct meeting policy is applied to the Tenant 2 organizer.
  • The organizer’s meeting-specific Meeting options did not change the lobby setting.

Meeting organizers can normally override the policy default in Meeting options. If Tenant 2 must enforce the setting, use a meeting template or sensitivity label; enforcement through those controls requires Teams Premium.^2^

More restrictive alternative

For tighter security, set Who can bypass the lobby to People who were invited instead. Authenticated Tenant 1 users who received or were forwarded the invitation can bypass, while people who merely obtained the meeting link wait in the lobby. Disabling invitation forwarding further limits access to directly invited attendees.^2^

Avoid selecting Everyone unless anonymous participants must also bypass the lobby. That setting broadens direct admission beyond the trusted Tenant 1 organization.

References

1. IT Admins - Manage external meetings and chat with people and organizations using Microsoft identities
2. IT Admins - Manage lobby options in Microsoft Teams