Request for Manual Review – Gemini API 403 PERMISSION_DENIED / Project Restricted

Gemini API
1

Hello Gemini API Team,

I am requesting a manual review of an unexpected Gemini API access restriction.

Project details

  • Project name: TEST
  • Project ID: concrete-tuner-505514…
  • Project number: 415547127…
  • Account type: Personal Google account
  • Intended tier: Free Tier
  • Intended model: Gemini 3.7 Flash
  • Use case: Personal, low-volume local development and coding assistant testing

Google AI Studio currently shows my project status as Restricted, with the message:

“API access for this project is restricted. Set up billing to continue.”

My API key itself is valid. I was previously able to successfully call the Gemini models endpoint and retrieve the available model list, including Gemini 3.7 Flash.

However, actual generation requests fail with:

403 PERMISSION_DENIED

Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.

I have also tested the API directly outside of the third-party application, and the restriction persists.

This project is only used for personal development and low-volume testing. I am not reselling Gemini access, operating a public API proxy, performing bulk scraping, sending unsolicited automated traffic, or attempting to bypass API quotas.

I would like to continue using the Free Tier and would prefer not to enable paid billing solely to remove what may be an automated restriction.

Could the Gemini API team please manually review whether my project or account has been incorrectly flagged and restore Free Tier access if I am eligible?

I can provide additional information privately if required.

I will not post my API key or credentials publicly.

Thank you.

2

Hello @Kass_Turing ,
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.