diff --git a/config/queue.lua b/config/queue.lua
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fad5e0823
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/queue.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+return {
+    ---Amount of seconds to wait before removing a player from the queue after disconnecting while waiting.
+    timeoutSeconds = 30,
+
+    ---Amount of seconds to wait before removing a player from the queue after disconnecting while installing server data.
+    ---Notice that an additional ~2 minutes will be waited due to limitations with how FiveM handles joining players.
+    joiningTimeoutSeconds = 0,
+}
diff --git a/server/events.lua b/server/events.lua
index 67fbfb56b..2b3a3095a 100644
--- a/server/events.lua
+++ b/server/events.lua
@@ -16,10 +16,13 @@ AddEventHandler('chatMessage', function(_, _, message)
 end)
 
 AddEventHandler('playerJoining', function()
-    if not serverConfig.checkDuplicateLicense then return end
     local src = source --[[@as string]]
     local license = GetPlayerIdentifierByType(src, 'license2') or GetPlayerIdentifierByType(src, 'license')
     if not license then return end
+    if queue then
+        queue.removePlayerJoining(license)
+    end
+    if not serverConfig.checkDuplicateLicense then return end
     if usedLicenses[license] then
         Wait(0) -- mandatory wait for the drop reason to show up
         DropPlayer(src, Lang:t('error.duplicate_license'))
diff --git a/server/queue.lua b/server/queue.lua
index 87cd84997..4b46d48ba 100644
--- a/server/queue.lua
+++ b/server/queue.lua
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ end
 
 -- Queue code
 
+local config = require 'config.queue'
 local maxPlayers = GlobalState.MaxPlayers
 
 ---Player license to queue position map.
@@ -47,16 +48,17 @@ end
 
 ---Map of player licenses that passed the queue and are downloading server content.
 ---Needs to be saved because these players won't be part of regular player counts such as `GetNumPlayerIndices`.
----@type table<string, true>
+---@type table<string, { source: Source, timestamp: integer }>
 local joiningPlayers = {}
 local joiningPlayerCount = 0
 
+---@param source Source
 ---@param license string
-local function addPlayerJoining(license)
+local function updatePlayerJoining(source, license)
     if not joiningPlayers[license] then
         joiningPlayerCount += 1
     end
-    joiningPlayers[license] = true
+    joiningPlayers[license] = { source = source, timestamp = os.time() }
 end
 
 ---@param license string
@@ -67,16 +69,54 @@ local function removePlayerJoining(license)
     joiningPlayers[license] = nil
 end
 
+---@type table<string, true>
+local timingOut = {}
+
+---@param license string
+---@return boolean shouldDequeue
+local function awaitPlayerTimeout(license)
+    timingOut[license] = true
+
+    Wait(config.timeoutSeconds * 1000)
+
+    -- if timeout data wasn't consumed then the player hasn't reconnected
+    if timingOut[license] then
+        timingOut[license] = nil
+        return true
+    end
+
+    return false
+end
+
+---@param license string
+---@return boolean playerTimingOut
+local function isPlayerTimingOut(license)
+    local playerTimingOut = timingOut[license] or false
+    timingOut[license] = nil
+    return playerTimingOut
+end
+
 ---@param source Source
 ---@param license string
 ---@param deferrals Deferrals
 local function awaitPlayerQueue(source, license, deferrals)
-    if playerPositions[license] then
+    if joiningPlayers[license] then
+        -- the player was in the middle of joining, so let them in
+        updatePlayerJoining(source, license)
+        deferrals.done()
+        return
+    end
+
+    local playerTimingOut = isPlayerTimingOut(license)
+
+    if playerPositions[license] and not playerTimingOut then
         deferrals.done(Lang:t('error.already_in_queue'))
         return
     end
 
-    enqueue(license)
+    if not playerTimingOut then
+        enqueue(license)
+    end
 
     -- wait until the player disconnected or until there are available slots and the player is first in queue
     while DoesPlayerExist(source --[[@as string]]) and ((GetNumPlayerIndices() + joiningPlayerCount) >= maxPlayers or playerPositions[license] > 1) do
@@ -90,22 +130,40 @@ local function awaitPlayerQueue(source, license, deferrals)
 
     -- if the player disconnected while waiting in queue
     if not DoesPlayerExist(source --[[@as string]]) then
-        dequeue(license)
+        if awaitPlayerTimeout(license) then
+            dequeue(license)
+        end
         return
     end
 
-    addPlayerJoining(license)
+    updatePlayerJoining(source, license)
     dequeue(license)
     deferrals.done()
 
-    -- wait until the player finally joins or disconnects while installing server content
-    -- this may result in waiting ~2 additional minutes if the player disconnects as FXServer will think that the player exists
-    while DoesPlayerExist(source --[[@as string]]) do
-        Wait(1000)
+    local joiningData
+    while true do
+        joiningData = joiningPlayers[license]
+
+        -- wait until the player finally joins or disconnects while installing server content
+        -- this may result in waiting ~2 additional minutes if the player disconnects as FXServer will think that the player exists
+        while DoesPlayerExist(source --[[@as string]]) do
+            Wait(1000)
+        end
+
+        -- wait until either the player reconnects or was disconnected for too long
+        while joiningPlayers[license] and joiningPlayers[license].source == joiningData.source and (os.time() - joiningData.timestamp) < config.joiningTimeoutSeconds do
+            Wait(1000)
+        end
+
+        -- if the player disconnected for too long stop waiting for them
+        if joiningPlayers[license] and joiningPlayers[license].source == joiningData.source then
+            removePlayerJoining(license)
+            break
+        end
     end
-    removePlayerJoining(license)
 end
 
 return {
     awaitPlayerQueue = awaitPlayerQueue,
+    removePlayerJoining = removePlayerJoining,
 }