diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.test.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.test.tsx
index 72b0e10e5d6..634c78d28d0 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.test.tsx
@@ -65,4 +65,14 @@ describe("UserSearchModal", () => {
 
     expect(userFilterUICall).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("tells the user that only existing accounts can be selected", () => {
+    renderModal();
+
+    const notice = screen.getByRole("alert");
+    expect(notice).toHaveTextContent(/users that already exist/i);
+    expect(notice).toHaveTextContent(/ask a proxy admin to create their account first/i);
+    // info, not warning: a warning here would read as an error state on an empty form
+    expect(notice.className).toMatch(/ant-alert-info/);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.tsx
index fafafd8e5d5..9c1d64a1f86 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/common_components/user_search_modal.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useState } from "react";
-import { Modal, Form, Button, Select, Tooltip } from "antd";
+import { Modal, Form, Button, Select, Tooltip, Alert } from "antd";
 import { UserAddOutlined } from "@ant-design/icons";
 import { useDebouncedCallback } from "@tanstack/react-pacer/debouncer";
 import { userFilterUICall } from "@/components/networking";
@@ -140,6 +140,14 @@ const UserSearchModal: React.FC<UserSearchModalProps> = ({
           role: defaultRole,
         }}
       >
+        <Alert
+          type="info"
+          showIcon
+          className="mb-4"
+          message="Search selects from users that already exist. To add someone new, ask a proxy admin to create their account first."
+          data-testid="member-existing-users-notice"
+        />
+
         <Form.Item label="Email" name="user_email" className="mb-4">
           <Select
             showSearch