diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/group.hbs b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/group.hbs
index caa25e5ab7b..1dd0a55cd11 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/group.hbs
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/group.hbs
@@ -54,7 +54,11 @@
 
   <div>
     <label for="visiblity">{{i18n 'groups.visibility_levels.title'}}</label>
-    {{combo-box name="alias" valueAttribute="value" value=model.visibility_level content=visibilityLevelOptions}}
+    {{combo-box name="alias"
+        valueAttribute="value"
+        value=model.visibility_level
+        content=visibilityLevelOptions
+        castInteger=true}}
   </div>
 
   {{#unless model.automatic}}
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/group.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/group.js.es6
index 995b536557a..865f5b8f755 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/group.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/group.js.es6
@@ -122,8 +122,7 @@ const Group = RestModel.extend({
 
   @observes("visibility_level")
   _updatePublic() {
-    let visibility_level = parseInt(this.get('visibility_level'));
-    if (visibility_level !== 0) {
+    if (this.get('visibility_level') !== 0) {
       this.set('public', false);
       this.set('allow_membership_requests', false);
     }