Request for manual review – 403 PERMISSION_DENIED – Project Restricted

Gemini API
1

Hello Gemini API Team,

I am requesting a manual review of my Gemini API project.

Google AI Studio shows my project as:

  • Project name: ZEN AI
  • Billing tier: Unavailable
  • Status: Restricted

When I call the Gemini API from my Node.js backend, I receive:

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

I have completed phone verification and enabled 2-Step Verification on my Google Account.

My intended use is a personal BCA student project called ZEN AI, an AI assistant website for conversation and voice interaction.

I would like to remain on the Free Tier if possible.

Could you please review the restriction and let me know how I can restore Gemini API access?

Thank you.

2

Hello @YOGESHPANDI_N_BCA ,

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.