403 PERMISSION_DENIED: Project denied access during generateContent

Gemini API
1

Hello,

I am testing the Gemini API from a local Python application on Windows.

The models.list request succeeds, but a synthetic text request to generateContent fails with:

HTTP 403 — PERMISSION_DENIED
“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”

The selected model was gemini-3.8-flash. Google AI Studio shows Free tier for the project. The test uses fictional text only, with no customer data.

Could you please explain how to request a review of this project access restriction?

If you need the project ID or other private account details, please direct me to an official private support channel.

No API keys or credentials are included in this report.

Thank you.

2

Hello @Arman_Elhami ,

Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI studio indicates a flag has been placed on your account. To proceed:

  1. If you’re on the free tier with no billing attached, please try the below steps:

  2. Check Model Availability & Rate Limits:

    • Ensure that the model you are requesting is available on your current plan. For example, not all models are available on the free tier. You can verify model availability, quotas, and limits on the AI Studio Rate Limit dashboard.

  3. Ensure you have completed age verification by navigating to Google Account Age Verification and verifying date of birth in Google Account Personal Info.

  4. Once age verification is configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.

  5. If completing these steps still does not restore access (or if using a model requiring a paid tier), you might want to consider adding prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio and/ or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud Console. Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.

3

Hello, thank you for your guidance.

I checked age verification using the account that owns the project. Google says: “You are all set” and that the account does not require age verification.

I then retried the synthetic request, but it still returns HTTP 403: “Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”

For Armanch Contact Agent Pilot, the AI Studio rate-limit dashboard also says that API access is restricted and asks me to set up billing.

I would like to keep using the free tier without enabling billing. Is there a review or appeal process to restore this project’s access to eligible free-tier models?

Thank you.

4

Hello @Arman_Elhami ,

I have DM`ed you for more information .