Surrogacy Cost & Fees and How We Charge
For patients who wish to use us only for referrals for surrogacy clinics and programs
in India, we are happy to help. We have looked at over 100 major and minor clinics
and have narrowed it down to a select list of 2-3 that we feel most comfortable
with. These names can be provided to you at a flat price of $10,000 USD. Once the
name is provided, you have the option of going through us or you can deal with the
clinic directly. Kindly know that this fee is earned by us and is payable by you
as soon as such a referral is provided whether orally or in writing.
The second option is to have us arrange everything for you at a fixed price of $35,000
USD for surrogacy.
As the next step, please feel to give us a call or
e-mail us.
Where do the surrogates stay? What are Typical Out-of-Pocket costs
for a surrogate in India?
In India, surrogates are usually women in their 20's that have had one or more children
already. The majority is usually married and is doing the surrogacy out of a combination
of altruism and also for financial reasons. During the surrogacy process they go
and stay at a surrogacy residence similar to a college dorm. During the nine months
of pregnancy, the women live in the dormitory, where they are under constant positive
support and supervision. They are given three meals per day and keep each other
company. They are prohibited from having any alcohol, drugs or sex during this period
to ensure that your baby is as healthy as possible.
The living costs in India are lower than in the USA. In India it costs a minimum
of about $500 per month for proper food and three meals per day and about another
$500 per month minimum for rent to take care of a surrogate. In addition, the reputable
surrogacy homes where the surrogate stays during the nine months of pregnancy have
a live in nurse and cook that has to be paid for. Hence it costs about $1,000 -
$1,500 per month to house and feed a surrogate properly or about $12,000-$18,000
per pregnancy.
Surrogate compensation paid directly to the surrogate is about $8,000 to $12,000.
Medical bills, IVF, egg donor transfer, gynecology visits over the nine month pregnancy,
hospital stay for the baby after delivery and delivery charges can easily add another
$8,000 to $10,000 to the bill. This brings the total realistic cost for a complete
proper surrogacy pregnancy to ensure good health for both the baby and the surrogate
mother to $30,000 to $33,000. Hence, if you are getting a low price quote of under
$30,000 for a surrogacy in India, please be careful.
What is involved in bringing my Baby born of a Surrogate back to
the United States as a US Citizen?
The rules in India on surrogacy are very liberal. There is no problem from the Indian
authorities in bringing the baby out of India. We can put either your name or the
surrogate carrier's name on the birth certificate at your option. If you are a single
lady and cannot use your own eggs, using your brother's or other relative's sperm
is fine to get a US Citizen Passport for the baby. This will also ensure that your
family DNA is used. However, keep in mind that the male whose sperm is used is the
legal parent of the baby and will have to go to India to pick up the baby. You may
have to file adoption papers in the USA on return to become the baby's mother. Kindly
consult your attorney for more details or we can refer you to an attorney.
For a single male/female or same sex couple, the best way to get the sperm to India
is to have us give you a home sperm collection kit and ship it to a sperm bank in
the USA we can recommend to you. The sperm bank will then ship it to our affiliated
IVF/Surrogacy clinic in New Delhi. If you need a recommendation on a sperm bank,
we can send you one. The sperm bank typically charges about $600 for processing,
freezing and shipping your sperm to India. Processing your sperm for Sex Selection
- see below - this is optional - typically costs an additional $800 to $1,500. They
will bill you directly. This service is not affiliated with us but we provide it
as a convenience to our clients. Feel free to use your own preferred sperm bank.
If you prefer a boy or girl there is a clinic we use that will send you a collection
kit for sex selection. They will then handle the sperm shipping to India for you.
Once we have the sperm in India, we will arrange for the egg donor and surrogate
based on your needs and inputs. This can be done by email and takes about two weeks.
Next step would be for you to go to India with your male partner and pick up your
baby in nine months after pregnancy starts. It is that simple!
Legal Considerations:
Birth Certificate
In the case of single parents, only the genetic mother or father can be on the baby's
birth certificate. For couples, both parent's names appear on the birth certificate
provided one parent has a genetic link with the child.
The Delhi Municipal Council issues birth certificates. It is wise to have your baby's
birth certificate stamped with an apostille seal. The apostille seal is an internationally
recognized seal and gives the birth certificate legal validity in countries outside
of India.
DNA Testing
International clients cannot use both an egg donor and a sperm donor, or donor embryos
with surrogacy, as a genetic link between the baby and at least one parent is required
by the embassies of most countries to grant citizenship and a passport to the baby.
A genetic link is established through DNA testing of one parent and the baby. This
is a mandatory requirement for citizens of most countries.
Bringing Your Baby Home
Babies born through surrogacy agreements in India are born stateless. This means
they are not given Indian citizenship by virtue of the fact they were born in India.
Prior to starting our surrogacy program, it is essential that all intended parents
consult the embassy of their country to ensure they are able to get citizenship
of their country for their baby. If you are in doubt as to whether
your country will grant citizenship for your baby, please consult your local embassy.
How can you help ensure a successful surrogate pregnancy?
Our firm's founders are originally from Delhi, India before migrating to the USA.
They speak English, Hindi and Punjabi and are intimately familiar with the culture
having grown up in the community.
There are numerous firms offering surrogacy services in India. It is important that
the one you use for your surrogacy is ethical and reputable. But as an American
thousands of miles away, how do you ensure that you are using an ethical clinic
and that your surrogate is doing a proper job of carrying your baby? By word of
mouth, reputation, clinic visits and careful selection, out of over one hundred
clinics we have reviewed, we have found only four or five that we feel comfortable
using.
As a result we now have an old established network of friends and clinics with which
we have been doing repeat business for many years. We have established standard
operating procedures and protocols with them for medical and support services for
our surrogates which they adhere to in order to ensure continuing referrals from
us.
If you go directly to a clinic selected based upon their glossy website, you may
run the risk of not getting ethical treatment. You can avoid this risk by going
through us. The clinics with whom we do business know that if they do not perform
to both written and unwritten expectations in handling the surrogacy patients sent
by us to them, we will stop sending them repeat business. Furthermore, these state
of the art clinics perform only IVF procedures and thus, decreases the risks of
cross contamination, infections, and failures. As such, we have built up an outstanding
reputation in representing our patients for surrogacy.
You may be able to save some money theoretically by directly going to a "Low Cost"
clinic, but are taking risks you may be unaware of. In some ways this is like trying
to build your own home without a General Contractor. You may be able to do it but
it is usually better to hire a General Contractor who knows the construction industry
to do it for you. As a result, most Americans prefer to go through an Agency like
ours so you can ensure that you will get the results you are looking for.