# Request for manual review – 403 PERMISSION\_DENIED – Project Restricted **URL:** \ **Category:** Gemini API\ **Tags:** gemini\ **Created:** [September 10, 2026, 4:07am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/request-for-manual-review-403-permission-denied-project-restricted/182270 "2026-09-10T04:07:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YOGESHPANDI\_N\_BCA](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/yogeshpandi_n_bca/32/148586_2.png) [@YOGESHPANDI\_N\_BCA](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/YOGESHPANDI_N_BCA)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 4:07am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/request-for-manual-review-403-permission-denied-project-restricted/182270/1 "2026-09-10T04:07:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Sai\_Deepika\_K](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/sai_deepika_k/32/34803_2.png) [@Sai\_Deepika\_K](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Sai_Deepika_K)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 8:55am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/request-for-manual-review-403-permission-denied-project-restricted/182270/2 "2026-09-10T08:55:11Z")
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: 3. Ensure you have completed age verification by navigating to [Google Account Age Verification](https://myaccount.google.com/age-verification) and verifying date of birth in [Google Account Personal Info](https://myaccount.google.com/personal-info). 4. Complete[Phone Verification](https://myaccount.google.com/phone) and turn on[2-Step Verification (2SV)](https://myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/twosv) 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](https://aistudio.google.com/). 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](https://aistudio.google.com/) and/ or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the[Google Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.google.com/billing). Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.