Processes in Microsoft 365 for setting up Office apps, redeeming product keys, and activating licenses.
I opened a ticket last week but didn't receive any follow-up progress, so I emailed them yesterday and this was the response:
The case has been escalated and according to our technical advisor, the free version is currently closed at the moment. We don't have any information yet as to when the free version will be available.
For now, we can only assist user with active/paid Visual Studio Subscription. For more updates, please visit the link below.
Microsoft 365 Developer Program - Microsoft 365 Developer Blog
If you need you really need to subscribe to M365 Developer Program, you can subscribe to Visual Studio subscriptions.
You can visit the link below for different pricing and benefits of different Visual Studio subscriptions.
Pricing and Purchasing Options | Visual Studio (microsoft.com)
Looking forward to your response. Thank you for choosing Microsoft.