Request for Manual Review – 403 PERMISSION_DENIED – Project Restricted / Free Tier Unavailable

Gemini API
1

Hello Gemini API Support Team,

I am requesting a manual review for my project to restore access to the eligible Free Tier.

Project Details:

  • Account: f…@gmail.com
  • Project Name: My Project 7657..
  • Project ID: bustling-nomad-508410-..
  • Status in AI Studio: Billing Tier shows “Unavailable” with an orange alert icon.
  • Error Code: 403 PERMISSION_DENIED (“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”)

Account Verifications Completed:

  • Google Account Age Verification is completed (confirmed 18+).
  • Phone verification and 2-Step Verification (2SV) are active.
  • Intended use: Personal development and testing on the Free Tier (no paid billing account attached).

Could you please review this project flag and restore Free Tier access? Thank you.

2

Hello @Francis3 ,

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. Complete Phone Verification and turn on 2-Step Verification (2SV) on the Google Account associated with your project.

  4. Once age, phone and 2sv are 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.