diff --git a/server/events/vcs/gitlab_client.go b/server/events/vcs/gitlab_client.go
index b78c82b271..2499c6503f 100644
--- a/server/events/vcs/gitlab_client.go
+++ b/server/events/vcs/gitlab_client.go
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ func (g *GitlabClient) PullIsApproved(logger logging.SimpleLogging, repo models.
 
 // PullIsMergeable returns true if the merge request can be merged.
 // In GitLab, there isn't a single field that tells us if the pull request is
-// mergeable so for now we check the merge_status and approvals_before_merge
+// mergeable so for now we check the merge_status and approvals_left
 // fields.
 // In order to check if the repo required these, we'd need to make another API
 // call to get the repo settings.
@@ -360,6 +360,14 @@ func (g *GitlabClient) PullIsMergeable(logger logging.SimpleLogging, repo models
 		logger.Debug("Merge status: '%s'", mr.MergeStatus) //nolint:staticcheck // Need to reference deprecated field for backwards compatibility
 	}
 
+	approval, resp, err := g.Client.MergeRequestApprovals.GetConfiguration(repo.FullName, pull.Num)
+	if resp != nil {
+		logger.Debug("GET /projects/%d/merge_requests/%d/approvals returned: %d", mr.ProjectID, mr.IID, resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+
 	if ((supportsDetailedMergeStatus &&
 		(mr.DetailedMergeStatus == "mergeable" ||
 			mr.DetailedMergeStatus == "ci_still_running" ||
@@ -367,7 +375,7 @@ func (g *GitlabClient) PullIsMergeable(logger logging.SimpleLogging, repo models
 			mr.DetailedMergeStatus == "need_rebase")) ||
 		(!supportsDetailedMergeStatus &&
 			mr.MergeStatus == "can_be_merged")) && //nolint:staticcheck // Need to reference deprecated field for backwards compatibility
-		mr.ApprovalsBeforeMerge <= 0 &&
+		approval.ApprovalsLeft == 0 &&
 		mr.BlockingDiscussionsResolved &&
 		!mr.WorkInProgress &&
 		(allowSkippedPipeline || !isPipelineSkipped) {