diff --git a/app/models/group.rb b/app/models/group.rb
index 2816a68257cacdca0940fd7c279617bdc41c0c0b..cb3ee032f69302e297ac568a8db56ef4409f0d39 100644
--- a/app/models/group.rb
+++ b/app/models/group.rb
@@ -206,9 +206,9 @@ class Group < Namespace
     SystemHooksService.new
   end
 
-  def refresh_members_authorized_projects
+  def refresh_members_authorized_projects(blocking: true)
     UserProjectAccessChangedService.new(user_ids_for_project_authorizations)
-      .execute
+      .execute(blocking: blocking)
   end
 
   def user_ids_for_project_authorizations
diff --git a/app/services/projects/create_service.rb b/app/services/projects/create_service.rb
index 48578b6d9e5cf10a59abd112f9ca75398496c254..a0cd52014a297822f9146f66fe972c97221e2259 100644
--- a/app/services/projects/create_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/projects/create_service.rb
@@ -99,12 +99,19 @@ module Projects
       event_service.create_project(@project, current_user)
       system_hook_service.execute_hooks_for(@project, :create)
 
-      unless @project.group || @project.gitlab_project_import?
-        owners = [current_user, @project.namespace.owner].compact.uniq
-        @project.add_master(owners, current_user: current_user)
-      end
+      setup_authorizations
+    end
 
-      @project.group&.refresh_members_authorized_projects
+    # Refresh the current user's authorizations inline (so they can access the
+    # project immediately after this request completes), and any other affected
+    # users in the background
+    def setup_authorizations
+      if @project.group
+        @project.group.refresh_members_authorized_projects(blocking: false)
+        current_user.refresh_authorized_projects
+      else
+        @project.add_master(@project.namespace.owner, current_user: current_user)
+      end
     end
 
     def skip_wiki?
diff --git a/app/services/user_project_access_changed_service.rb b/app/services/user_project_access_changed_service.rb
index d7a6804ee88b3d784aa89418ffb436a1ece4946b..8630e572624ac18a6454b2d288d7844754c9303a 100644
--- a/app/services/user_project_access_changed_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/user_project_access_changed_service.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,13 @@ class UserProjectAccessChangedService
     @user_ids = Array.wrap(user_ids)
   end
 
-  def execute
-    AuthorizedProjectsWorker.bulk_perform_and_wait(@user_ids.map { |id| [id] })
+  def execute(blocking: true)
+    bulk_args = @user_ids.map { |id| [id] }
+
+    if blocking
+      AuthorizedProjectsWorker.bulk_perform_and_wait(bulk_args)
+    else
+      AuthorizedProjectsWorker.bulk_perform_async(bulk_args)
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/workers/authorized_projects_worker.rb b/app/workers/authorized_projects_worker.rb
index be4c77503bb6ce0dd32d144874b824089b18cb47..55d8d0c69d161cc5937f4fa073bcf5b5557fcdd3 100644
--- a/app/workers/authorized_projects_worker.rb
+++ b/app/workers/authorized_projects_worker.rb
@@ -4,20 +4,40 @@ class AuthorizedProjectsWorker
 
   # Schedules multiple jobs and waits for them to be completed.
   def self.bulk_perform_and_wait(args_list)
+    # Short-circuit: it's more efficient to do small numbers of jobs inline
+    return bulk_perform_inline(args_list) if args_list.size <= 3
+
     waiter = Gitlab::JobWaiter.new(args_list.size)
 
     # Point all the bulk jobs at the same JobWaiter. Converts, [[1], [2], [3]]
     # into [[1, "key"], [2, "key"], [3, "key"]]
-    waiting_args_list = args_list.map { |args| args << waiter.key }
+    waiting_args_list = args_list.map { |args| [*args, waiter.key] }
     bulk_perform_async(waiting_args_list)
 
     waiter.wait
   end
 
+  # Schedules multiple jobs to run in sidekiq without waiting for completion
   def self.bulk_perform_async(args_list)
     Sidekiq::Client.push_bulk('class' => self, 'queue' => sidekiq_options['queue'], 'args' => args_list)
   end
 
+  # Performs multiple jobs directly. Failed jobs will be put into sidekiq so
+  # they can benefit from retries
+  def self.bulk_perform_inline(args_list)
+    failed = []
+
+    args_list.each do |args|
+      begin
+        new.perform(*args)
+      rescue
+        failed << args
+      end
+    end
+
+    bulk_perform_async(failed) if failed.present?
+  end
+
   def perform(user_id, notify_key = nil)
     user = User.find_by(id: user_id)
 
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/36792-inline-user-refresh-when-creating-project.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/36792-inline-user-refresh-when-creating-project.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..be08da0433af7e45fe812c0b530c1584beae62bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/36792-inline-user-refresh-when-creating-project.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Never wait for sidekiq jobs when creating projects
+merge_request: 13775
+author:
+type: other
diff --git a/spec/services/projects/create_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/projects/create_service_spec.rb
index b0dc7488b5f475aab8e927b7531fb69f0686905b..088b7b4fc0437a278959bd80084020a6ef796457 100644
--- a/spec/services/projects/create_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/projects/create_service_spec.rb
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ describe Projects::CreateService, '#execute' do
 
       expect(project).to be_persisted
       expect(project.owner).to eq(user)
-      expect(project.team.masters).to include(user, admin)
+      expect(project.team.masters).to contain_exactly(user)
       expect(project.namespace).to eq(user.namespace)
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/services/user_project_access_changed_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/user_project_access_changed_service_spec.rb
index 14a5e40350a7d1bb042ccb7c27f2636dbd2c0818..87a90378e2b3e7d395ef3165af56c74149d99607 100644
--- a/spec/services/user_project_access_changed_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/user_project_access_changed_service_spec.rb
@@ -8,5 +8,12 @@ describe UserProjectAccessChangedService do
 
       described_class.new([1, 2]).execute
     end
+
+    it 'permits non-blocking operation' do
+      expect(AuthorizedProjectsWorker).to receive(:bulk_perform_async)
+        .with([[1], [2]])
+
+      described_class.new([1, 2]).execute(blocking: false)
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/workers/authorized_projects_worker_spec.rb b/spec/workers/authorized_projects_worker_spec.rb
index f8385ae7c72c94a4609f3e13d76bf61874629391..90ed1309d4aa68ef2963cb735e750b1cff1974fa 100644
--- a/spec/workers/authorized_projects_worker_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/workers/authorized_projects_worker_spec.rb
@@ -3,28 +3,75 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 describe AuthorizedProjectsWorker do
   let(:project) { create(:project) }
 
+  def build_args_list(*ids, multiply: 1)
+    args_list = ids.map { |id| [id] }
+    args_list * multiply
+  end
+
   describe '.bulk_perform_and_wait' do
     it 'schedules the ids and waits for the jobs to complete' do
+      args_list = build_args_list(project.owner.id)
+
+      project.owner.project_authorizations.delete_all
+      described_class.bulk_perform_and_wait(args_list)
+
+      expect(project.owner.project_authorizations.count).to eq(1)
+    end
+
+    it 'inlines workloads <= 3 jobs' do
+      args_list = build_args_list(project.owner.id, multiply: 3)
+      expect(described_class).to receive(:bulk_perform_inline).with(args_list)
+
+      described_class.bulk_perform_and_wait(args_list)
+    end
+
+    it 'runs > 3 jobs using sidekiq' do
+      project.owner.project_authorizations.delete_all
+
+      expect(described_class).to receive(:bulk_perform_async).and_call_original
+
+      args_list = build_args_list(project.owner.id, multiply: 4)
+      described_class.bulk_perform_and_wait(args_list)
+
+      expect(project.owner.project_authorizations.count).to eq(1)
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe '.bulk_perform_inline' do
+    it 'refreshes the authorizations inline' do
       project.owner.project_authorizations.delete_all
 
-      described_class.bulk_perform_and_wait([[project.owner.id]])
+      expect_any_instance_of(described_class).to receive(:perform).and_call_original
+
+      described_class.bulk_perform_inline(build_args_list(project.owner.id))
 
       expect(project.owner.project_authorizations.count).to eq(1)
     end
+
+    it 'enqueues jobs if an error is raised' do
+      invalid_id = -1
+      args_list = build_args_list(project.owner.id, invalid_id)
+
+      allow_any_instance_of(described_class).to receive(:perform).with(project.owner.id)
+      allow_any_instance_of(described_class).to receive(:perform).with(invalid_id).and_raise(ArgumentError)
+      expect(described_class).to receive(:bulk_perform_async).with(build_args_list(invalid_id))
+
+      described_class.bulk_perform_inline(args_list)
+    end
   end
 
   describe '.bulk_perform_async' do
     it "uses it's respective sidekiq queue" do
-      args = [[project.owner.id]]
+      args_list = build_args_list(project.owner.id)
       push_bulk_args = {
         'class' => described_class,
         'queue' => described_class.sidekiq_options['queue'],
-        'args' => args
+        'args' => args_list
       }
 
       expect(Sidekiq::Client).to receive(:push_bulk).with(push_bulk_args).once
 
-      described_class.bulk_perform_async(args)
+      described_class.bulk_perform_async(args_list)
     end
   end