diff --git a/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb b/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
index ef917fafa10..eb7cb2eb5ae 100644
--- a/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
@@ -343,7 +343,9 @@ class GroupsController < ApplicationController
       )
     end
     usernames_already_in_group = group.users.where(id: users.map(&:id)).pluck(:username)
-    if usernames_already_in_group.present? && usernames_already_in_group.length == users.length
+    if usernames_already_in_group.present? &&
+      usernames_already_in_group.length == users.length &&
+      emails.blank?
       render_json_error(I18n.t(
         "groups.errors.member_already_exist",
         username: usernames_already_in_group.sort.join(", "),
diff --git a/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb b/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb
index a977d77378d..41c9e2861e9 100644
--- a/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb
@@ -1237,6 +1237,23 @@ describe GroupsController do
           expect(response.status).to eq(200)
         end
 
+        it 'sends invites to new users and ignores existing users' do
+          user1.update!(username: 'john')
+          user2.update!(username: 'alice')
+          [user1, user2].each { |user| group.add(user) }
+          emails = ["something@gmail.com", "anotherone@yahoo.com"]
+          put "/groups/#{group.id}/members.json",
+            params: { user_emails: [user1.email, user2.email].join(","), emails: emails.join(",") }
+
+          expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+          expect(response.parsed_body["emails"]).to eq(emails)
+
+          emails.each do |email|
+            invite = Invite.find_by(email: email)
+            expect(invite.groups).to eq([group])
+          end
+        end
+
         it 'displays warning when all members already exists' do
           user1.update!(username: 'john')
           user2.update!(username: 'alice')