If you’re seeing “subscribe pending” on any communities it’s a bug, you’re still subscribed.
There isn’t an approval process to subscribe to communities - anyone with a Lemmy account can subscribe. What are you seeing that looks like you need approval?
There can be an approval process for signing up to an instance/server, though.
I think they’re referring the Subscribe Pending prompt that some communities give when trying to subscribe.
I’ve noticed it myself and actually have been wondering the same thing
When I search for a community that isn’t on my local instance, I often get a “subscription pending” text, instead of it immediately changing to “joined”.
I noticed this too, but it feels more like a pull for the community is scheduled, and usually within minutes I’ll see in under my subscribed.