GESTLIFE carries out surrogacy programs in all countries where surrogacy is legal, and where the necessary guarantees are offered. This way we are not obliged to offer you the only destination we have, as if it were a sensation. At GESTLIFE we advise you on the program that best suits your needs, not because we have no other destination to offer you.
At present, surrogacy processes can be carried out in the following countries:
USA, UKRAINE, GEORGIA, ALBANIA, GEORGIA, GREECE, KAZAKHSTAN, ARMENIA, COLOMBIA, MEXICO.
Since its inception, Gestlife's philosophy has been to offer all possible destinations to prospective parents for their surrogacy processes .
We research them, we visit them, we open our own offices (13 in 10 countries) with our own staff (more than 180 employees in which we are not intermediaries,) and we ensure the quality of the services of the suppliers involved.
This way, we are not obliged to offer only one destination for surrogacy processes. Many "agencies" have a single destination that they have to defend discouraging other destinations because otherwise they won’t get "clients." We can really recommend the most suitable destination for surrogacy, adjusting to the needs of each family.
Of course we want you to do the surrogacy process with us. That is what we do. But once you decide to work with us, our priorities are 3:
Avoid making legal mistakes that could jeopardise your surrogacy process, breaking the laws of a country and getting into serious legal trouble.
Guarantee you a medical success: a healthy baby.
Reduce your expenses as much as possible. We prefer that you keep your money for your child, and not for intermediaries who only take a commission for introducing you to a clinic.
We are not conditioned to offer you only one destination because we don’t have a one to offer you, unlike many of the surrogacy agencies who only have one destination, even if it is not the right one for you.
It is important that the family wishing to undertake surrogacy understands that there are three types of countries where surrogacy can take.
These countries have specific legislation for surrogacy, which develops the right of the intended parent(s) (you or you) to carry out a surrogacy procedure.
These laws transfer the rights over the child from the surrogate mother to the intended parents. These countries have laws drafted by their parliaments, or subsequently modified by rulings of high courts, such as the Constitutional Court allowing certain people to carry out surrogacy processes.
These are the countries where a surrogacy process can be carried out with all the guarantees. Gestlife has offices in all of them:
| COUNTRY | Heterosexual married couples | Unmarried heterosexual couples | Single men | Single women | Same-sex couples male | same-sex female couples | Trans people |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| UKRAINE | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO (if not married) |
| GEORGIA | YES | YES (if more than one year of demonstrable cohabitation) | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| GREECE | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES (as a single woman) |
| ALBANIA | YES | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO |
| KAZAKHSTAN | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| ARMENIA | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
IMPORTANT NOTICE: this table is for guidance only. Please consult one of our family counsellors about the special conditions in each country, as the requirements for surrogacy vary from one country to another.
Following the premise that what is not forbidden is allowed, new destinations are appearing in countries where there is no specific legislation on surrogacy.
These countries do not have an explicit law on surrogacy, and the processes that take place in these countries are carried out with the intervention of a local court, which recognizes the paternity of the intended father.
These countries are:
| COUNTRY | Heterosexual married couples | Unmarried heterosexual couples | Single men | Single women | Same-sex couples male | same-sex female couples | Trans people |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COLOMBIA | YES | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO |
| MEXICO | YES | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO |
GESTLIFE has its own offices in Mexico and Colombia.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: this table is for guidance only. Please consult one of our family counsellors about the special conditions in each country, as the requirements for surrogacy vary from one country to another.
Altruistic surrogacy: in this type of legislation there is a maximum amount of compensation that the surrogate can receive given that the law aims to ensure that the surrogate does not enrich herself. In some countries the figure ranges from zero, as was the case in the Portuguese law, to 20,000 Canadian dollars in Canada (not as financial compensation, but as payment for medical expenses, clothing, medication, etc..) Paying a higher amount to the pregnant woman is an offense punishable by imprisonment.
Some countries, over the last decade, have carried out surrogacy procedures for foreign nationals. But at one point, they decided to prohibit this type of process for foreign nationals restricting the right to participate in a surrogacy program to just nationals of their country. These countries are:
*In the case of Portugal, it is also required that the commissioning mother has no uterus, that the surrogate does not receive any money, that they are a heterosexual couple, that she goes through a deontological committee and that the surrogate woman has a period of time to change her mind and keep the baby after birth. After 4 years, there has only been one case.
The status of a "surrogacy agency" is not regulated in Europe so there are no requirements to open an agency (unlike a law firm that must have a law degree, liability insurance, a code of ethics, etc..)
This periodically leads to the appearance of new "agencies" with newly fabricated destinations. This happens especially in the case of single parents or gay couples (although some heterosexual couples also fall into this type of trap,) in countries where there is no law on surrogacy but where there is no jurisprudence that allows it either. They are easily detected by the following important details:
• IVF is done in one country, but the birth takes place in another country.Currently, the destination we have detected that is making the most noise in the sector is CYPRUS. It is mainly focused on single men or homosexual couples. The in vitro fertilization is done in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (a state not recognized by Europe,) and then you are offered to give birth in another country. Some agencies have the courage to offer you to give the birth in Czech Republic or other places.
If you want more information about Cyprus, and why you should not do a process in Cyprus, click on this link..
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Fatherhood changed our lives. There was a before, and an after. And the after, it was much better. So neither short nor lazy, we started this subject years ago of making the unreal real, the impossible possible. Today we are more than 100 people in 7 countries.
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