There seems to be a bug in GitLab, so that users with a project limit of 0 (or those who have reached their limit) can only see the “create project link” when they are in a group in which they can create projects. But you can also choose the group when you click on the “create project link”.
I prefer to see the “create project link” everywhere. Because if they don’t see the link, the user is irritated and thinking he can’t create projects.
We are using GitLab-CE Version 10.5.4