Gemini API still returns 403 after project reinstatement — how can I restore Free Tier access?

Gemini API
1

Hello,

My Google AI Studio projects received reinstatement emails from Google, but AI Studio still shows Restricted / Billing Tier Unavailable, and a minimal generation request returns:

403 PERMISSION_DENIED — "Your project has been denied access. Please contact support."

The same API key successfully lists models. I am using gemini-3.5-flash-lite, not a tuned model.

This is a development and testing project with no customer usage. We have deployed improvements to our error handling:

  • No automatic retries on 403 or other non-transient errors.

  • A maximum of three HTTP requests per analysis job.

  • Bounded backoff with jitter, honoring Retry-After.

  • Accurate request accounting.

Google Cloud Support referred me to this community and closed the case. Previous reinstatements were also followed by recurring restrictions, but no specific reason or corrective action was provided.

Could someone help clarify:

  1. Why Gemini generation remains blocked after reinstatement?

  2. How to restore Free Tier access?

  3. How to request a private review and learn what needs to be corrected?

I can provide project details privately to the responsible team.

Thank you.

2

Hello Google AI team,

I am a student developing EcoSort AI for a sustainability project. My Gemini API requests repeatedly return:

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

Project name: Default Gemini Project
Project ID: gen-lang-client-0442500..
Project number: 322708168..

The Generative Language API is enabled, but generation requests still fail. My project has no billing account linked.

Please help me identify the reason for this restriction and advise whether access can be restored.

Thank you.

3

Hello @naor_elimelech @KANCHANA ,

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:

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

  1. 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.

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

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

  4. 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.