403 PERMISSION_DENIED "Your project has been denied access" on fresh Workspace project

Gemini API
1

Hi, I’m experiencing a persistent 403 PERMISSION_DENIED error on every generateContent request:

{“error”:{“code”:403,“message”:“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”,“status”:“PERMISSION_DENIED”}}

Project details:

  • Project name: Default Gemini Project
  • Project ID: gen-lang-client-09477836..
  • Created: September 13, 2026 (brand new)
  • Billing Tier: Free tier
  • Account: Google Workspace-owned (business account)
  • API key created successfully via Google AI Studio
  • No prior usage history, no known policy violations

I’ve tried multiple models (gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.5-flash-lite) and two separate API keys under the same project — same error every time. The Projects page in AI Studio shows no error banner or “Restricted” status for this project.

Could someone please review and restore API access for this project? Happy to provide any additional details needed.

Thank you.

2

Hello @editNad ,

Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI audio 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. Complete Phone Verification and turn on 2-Step Verification (2SV) on the Google Account associated with your project.

  5. Once age, phone and 2sv are configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.

  6. 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

Hi Sai,

Thank you for the detailed steps. I’ve gone through all of them:

  1. Free tier, no billing attached — confirmed.
  2. Model Availability & Rate Limits — checked the AI Studio Rate Limit dashboard. I tried multiple Flash models available on the free tier (gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.5-flash-lite), all well within free-tier limits and usage caps. Same error on every model tried.
  3. Age verification: Date of birth added to Google Account.
  4. Phone Verification and 2-Step Verification (2SV): Now enabled.
  5. Retried with existing API key, and also generated a brand new key — both fail identically.

The exact error on every attempt:
{“error”:{“code”:403,“message”:“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”,“status”:“PERMISSION_DENIED”}}

I also checked the Projects page in Google AI Studio, and it now explicitly shows:
Status: Restricted / Unavailable

for “Default Gemini Project” (gen-lang-client-09477836…). This suggests the restriction is at the project level, not the key or model, since a fresh key and multiple models all failed the same way.

Could someone from the team manually review and lift this restriction? Happy to share any further details needed.

Thank you for your help.

4

Hello,

Can I get a reply on this?

5

Hello @editNad ,

It seems like your projects are flagged by automated account security checks. To unblock this error, you should consider upgrading to a paid plan. You could add prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio and/ or by attaching an active billing account in the Google Cloud Console.