Gemini API returns 403 PERMISSION_DENIED ("Your project has been denied access") and AI Studio cannot list projects

Gemini API
1

Hello,

My Gemini API requests consistently return: 403 PERMISSION_DENIED: Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.

At the same time, when I try to create an API key in Google AI Studio, the page shows: Failed to list projects: permission denied. Please try again.

Reproduction details:

  • GET /v1beta/models returns 200, so the key authenticates and models can be listed.
  • generateContent (e.g. gemini-3.8-flash), the Interactions API (/v1beta/interactions), and the OpenAI-compatible endpoint all return 403 with the same message.
  • Earlier, one request returned 400 FAILED_PRECONDITION: User location is not supported for the API use. After changing my network exit node, that error no longer appears, but the 403 remains.
  • My Google account was temporarily locked by a login verification challenge (“We couldn’t verify it’s you”). I have since recovered the account through the account recovery process.

Account verification status:

  • Age verification: [completed / not completed — fill in]
  • Phone verification: [completed / not completed — fill in]
  • Two-step verification (2SV): Not completed. Enabling it is currently blocked by the same “We couldn’t verify it’s you” challenge when I try to confirm my identity.

Other information:

  • Account email: [your email, partially masked]
  • Google Cloud project ID (if any): [gen-lang-client-xxxx]
  • API key last 4 characters: [xxxx]
  • First occurrence (UTC+8): [date and time]

What I’m asking for: Could you please check whether this project or account has a Gemini API access restriction (risk review, eligibility, or other status) and let me know what steps are needed to lift it? If additional identity verification is required, please tell me exactly what to do, since the 2SV step is currently blocked.

Thank you.

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2

Hi @1258001161,
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. 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.

  6. If you are on a paid tier:

    1. Check for banners / error callouts in the AI Studio Projects page & the Billing page. Mostly these flags cause visible banners or other errors on these pages with concrete next steps / appeal links. You can also check the email address associated with your project for information on next steps.

    2. If your GCP project/ billing account is suspended, you must submit an appeal directly through the Google Cloud Console following the Project Suspension Guidelines (Help Center)