Hello,
Is it possible to have the business rule "after user creation" to not trigger the second business rule for approvals?
It can be done by using conditions. For example, you can use the below approach. This way, the business rule will only trigger for the members who were created more than an hour ago.
Would the best option be to modify the second business rule to state "if group is not (etc) (etc), then require approval" ?
Yes, using conditions in the Business rule is the only option.