If a friend was determined to not be a part of your household, the system can kick and prevent said person from rejoining.

Hello. Unfortunately, we don't have any information regarding your question. We recommend you contact Steam platform support.

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🧩 What’s actually happening

Steam Families enforces a strict 1-year cooldown on:

Any slot where a family member leaves or is removed.

Any account that leaves a family, before it can join another.

However, there’s a special rule:

If the same person rejoins the same family, the cooldown should not apply — as long as Steam recognizes them as a “Previous Member.”

In your case, Steam apparently removed your friend automatically (there have been reports of random removals during Family beta updates or region/connection sync errors).
Because the system didn’t log the removal properly, your friend doesn’t appear in “Previous Members.” That means Steam doesn’t realize it’s the same user trying to rejoin, and therefore automatically applies the 1-year restriction as if you were adding a completely new person.

⚠️ Why this happens

Common triggers for this glitch:

Steam client desync / region mismatch between host and member (e.g. different countries or IP changes).

Beta client updates — Valve has been adjusting Family systems behind the scenes.

Account state changes, like switching Family View, country, or store region.

Backend bug — in several cases reported on Reddit, members vanished from families after Steam backend maintenance.

✅ What you can try
1. Contact Steam Support directly

This is the only known way to resolve it before the 1-year cooldown expires.
When contacting them, include:

Your account name (admin/host).

The friend’s account name.

A detailed explanation:

“My family member was automatically removed by the system without action on either side. The account does not appear under Previous Members, and the one-year restriction is now active. Please review the removal event or restore them as a Previous Member so I can re-add them.”

Go to:
Steam Support → Steam Families → Family Management → Contact Support

Users who’ve done this reported that Valve support can:

Reset the family slot.

Restore the member’s eligibility.

Or remove the cooldown entirely.

(Response time is usually 1–3 business days.)

2. Verify region/country match

Make sure both accounts:

Are in the same Steam store region.

Have not recently changed country (e.g., due to VPN or relocation).

Even minor region mismatches can trigger the auto-removal behavior.

3. Avoid changing family settings for now

Until Valve confirms the fix, don’t add or remove other members — that can start additional cooldown timers.

❌ What doesn’t work

There’s no manual way to “mark” someone as a previous member.

Removing and re-adding the same person via different device/IP won’t help.

Re-creating the family group won’t bypass the restriction (the 1-year timer follows both account and slot).

🗣️ What other users have reported

Some people got the same 1-year lockout after members disappeared randomly in late 2024.

Steam Support was able to reset the slot for those users when they explained it was a backend glitch.

Others who waited a few days sometimes saw the missing user appear under “Previous Members” again — so it’s worth checking occasionally before writing to support.

📩 Recommended next step

File a Steam Support ticket right away with all relevant details.
Mention specifically:

“Removed automatically — not manually removed by admin — and user does not appear under Previous Members.”

That phrasing helps the support team understand it’s likely a system bug rather than normal cooldown behavior.

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