Travelling home with your baby born through international surrogacy – the options

For many parents travelling abroad for the birth of their child through international surrogacy, the biggest concern is often how to return home to the UK as quickly and smoothly as possible. This is usually the first question we’re asked when supporting families planning surrogacy overseas — and over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of British parents navigate the process of bringing their newborns home.

UK immigration law around surrogacy is complex. There’s no single process that fits all, and the best route home will depend on your personal situation and the country where your baby is born. We can help you identify the most suitable path to avoid common pitfalls and problems.

Travelling home with a baby born through US surrogacy

The United States is widely regarded as the gold standard for surrogacy due to its clear legal frameworks and well-established procedures. It is also the most popular international surrogacy destination for UK parents by a long distance. If your child is born in the USA, they will automatically (at least at the moment) be a US citizen by birth and entitled to a US passport, which can usually be issued within a few weeks and used to travel to the UK or to many other worldwide destinations.

However, US birthright citizenship is being challenged by the Trump administration and there is a possibility (most US lawyers say a negligible one) that it may be more difficult for foreign citizen parents to get a US passport for a surrogate baby in the future (even if surrogate-born children are not the target of the proposed changes). Just in case, active contingency planning is happening on both sides of the Atlantic. For British parents, we can help with getting UK travel documents if you need them, just as we did during COVID when the US passport office closed. Find out more: What Does the Trump Presidency Mean for UK Parents’ Access to US Surrogacy?

Assuming US passports remain available, this is still the easiest route home. While technically babies travelling on a US passport don’t have an automatic right to enter the UK to settle here, UK border officers have routinely exercised discretion to allow entry for infants born via surrogacy in the US for decades. You should always be prepared for an honest discussion about your situation on arrival to the UK, and we normally provide a legal letter explaining the situation and confirming that steps are being taken to resolve the UK legal issues, which can help smooth your entry to the UK.

From 2025, US citizens travelling to the UK must also obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) alongside their passport. This is a straightforward online application and we can also give guidance on how to do this ahead of travel.

Travelling home with a baby born through surrogacy in other countries

Outside the US, the global surrogacy landscape is complex and constantly evolving. Over our 15 years of experience, we’ve seen the popular destinations for surrogacy constantly shift, with new countries emerging and others tightening restrictions. Current international surrogacy destinations include Georgia, Ukraine, Mexico, Cyprus, Colombia, Canada and Nigeria, although we have also seen babies born in Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uganda, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Brazil, Greece, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and more.

As well as taking great care over the ethics and legalities of the arrangement you are entering into more widely, it is absolutely critical to be clear about the process and documents needed to take your child home after the birth. This may include getting birth certificates, court orders, passports and other documents, all of which can take time.

Whether your child will be eligible for a local passport depends on the specific laws of the country in which your child is born. Even if a local passport is available, you will need to know whether it enables you to travel to the UK, or whether you will also need a UK visa or certificate of entitlement to right to abode.

Most British parents with babies born through surrogacy outside the US (and Canada) need to apply for a British passport or other appropriate UK travel documents before their baby can travel home. This can take some time (often several months) and needs careful planning. If your surrogate is unmarried and the biological father is British (not by descent), your child may be born British and eligible for a UK passport. If not then you may need to make an initial application to the Home Office for your child to be granted British nationality.

If neither of you is British, or one of you holds a different nationality, other routes may be possible — but again, these will depend on your individual immigration circumstances.

How we can help

With extensive experience across a wide range of international surrogacy destinations and a strong network of global legal contacts, we are here to help unpick the legal complexities of your case and review all the options available to you. We can provide tailored advice during the planning stages to avoid problems down the line or offer support and legal representation if you’re already overseas and facing challenges. Since we deal with both British nationality/passport applications and parental order/family law applications (which also have an impact on nationality) we can help you plan the most efficient overall strategy to get you home and resolve your family’s legal status in the UK.