Commercial surrogacy, meaning an arrangement where the surrogate is paid compensation beyond her medical expenses, is legal in only a handful of countries. The countries where commercial surrogacy is legal are the United States, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and Belarus. Each sets its own rules on who qualifies, whether foreigners can participate, and how parentage is established at birth. The list has shrunk over the past decade as former hubs like India, Thailand, Nepal, and Russia have banned the practice or closed it to foreign intended parents.
United States
The U.S. is the most legally developed commercial surrogacy market in the world, but “the U.S.” is misleading shorthand. Surrogacy law is set at the state level. Roughly 15 states and the District of Columbia permit compensated surrogacy for all intended parents without conditions. Around 30 states allow it with restrictions tied to residency, marital status, or the type of parentage order available. A small number of states void surrogacy contracts by statute, and Louisiana treats most commercial surrogacy arrangements as criminal.
Where the surrogate lives and where the birth takes place decide almost everything, from whether your contract is enforceable to whether both intended parents appear on the birth certificate. Most intended parents work with agencies in states with well-established surrogacy-friendly case law or statutes, particularly California, Connecticut, Colorado, and Nevada.
Total costs run from roughly $100,000 to $300,000, depending on the state, agency, surrogate compensation, IVF expenses, and legal fees. Surrogate base compensation alone often ranges from $50,000 to $95,000.
One advantage that offsets the price for foreign intended parents is birthright citizenship. A child born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen regardless of the parents’ nationality, which removes many of the citizenship complications common to international arrangements.
Ukraine
Ukraine has been one of the most popular international destinations for over a decade, offering a clear legal framework at a fraction of U.S. costs. Ukrainian law recognizes the intended parents as the child’s legal parents from birth, and the surrogate has no parental rights.
Eligibility is narrow. Only married heterosexual couples qualify, and at least one partner must have a documented medical indication for surrogacy. Single parents and same-sex couples cannot access surrogacy in Ukraine.
The war with Russia has complicated the practical side without shutting the industry down. Ukrainian agencies report pregnancy numbers approaching pre-conflict levels. Air raid alerts disrupt medical appointments, hospitals have been damaged across the country, and power outages affect clinics. Some intended parents now travel to neighboring countries like Poland to handle documentation and emergency passport processing for their newborns. A 2023 legislative proposal to ban surrogacy for foreigners during martial law was rejected, so the legal framework remains intact for now. Guaranteed programs start around €75,000.
Georgia
The Republic of Georgia has emerged as a growing destination, particularly after the war in Ukraine disrupted that market. Georgian law explicitly permits commercial surrogacy and recognizes intended parents as the legal parents from conception, which avoids custody disputes.
Eligibility extends to married heterosexual couples and unmarried heterosexual partners who can show they have lived together for at least one year. Foreign nationals qualify under the same rules as Georgian citizens. The surrogate cannot also serve as the egg donor, so gestational surrogacy with a separate donor is standard. Birth certificate registration takes roughly five to seven days and requires the surrogacy agreement, the embryo transfer certificate, and hospital documentation. Same-sex couples and single intended parents are not eligible under current Georgian law.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s Code on Marriage and Family defines surrogacy as bearing a child under contract with payment of compensation, making it one of the few countries to write commercial surrogacy directly into its family code.
The surrogate must be between 20 and 35, in good physical and mental health, and must already have a healthy child. If she is married, her spouse must provide notarized consent. The law does not appear to impose citizenship or residency restrictions on intended parents, which has drawn some international interest. Kazakhstan remains less established than Ukraine or Georgia, with fewer agencies and English-language resources, and foreign parents should expect local administrative processes that are not streamlined for outsiders.
Mexico
Mexico’s surrogacy landscape is evolving and messy. In 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court struck down a Tabasco state law restricting surrogacy to married heterosexual Mexican couples, ruling it unconstitutional. The court declared surrogacy a protected medical procedure that must be accessible without discrimination based on marital status, citizenship, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and it affirmed a surrogate’s right to receive compensation.
The gap between that ruling and reality on the ground is wide. Only two states, Tabasco and Sinaloa, have passed explicit surrogacy regulations. Two others, Querétaro and Coahuila, expressly forbid surrogacy contracts. In the remaining states, arrangements proceed through court processes and legal precedent rather than clear statutory frameworks, under the logic that what is not prohibited is allowed.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has warned intended parents that surrogacy law in the country is “incomplete and open to wide interpretation” and that surrogates may assert parental rights despite contractual agreements. Delays of months while waiting for court decisions on parentage are common. Basic programs start around $49,000 to $60,000, with guaranteed programs running $70,000 to $90,000.
Belarus
Belarus permits surrogacy as a medical service, and its legal framework allows the surrogacy contract to include compensation for the surrogate. The service is available to heterosexual married couples and single women who cannot carry a pregnancy but can provide their own eggs, ensuring a genetic link between at least one parent and the child. Foreign intended parents can access Belarusian surrogacy under the same medical-necessity requirement as citizens. Belarus remains a niche destination with limited international agency infrastructure.
Countries That Recently Closed the Door
Several countries once appeared on lists of commercial surrogacy destinations and no longer belong there. If you find older guides or agency pages still listing them, treat the information as stale.
- India. For years the world’s most prominent surrogacy destination, with an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Surrogacy Regulation Act of 2021 banned all commercial surrogacy. Only altruistic surrogacy is now permitted, restricted to infertile Indian married couples with no living children. Commercial surrogacy carries fines and up to five years in prison.
- Thailand. After scandals involving a child with Down syndrome abandoned by Australian intended parents and a Japanese man who fathered more than a dozen babies through different surrogates, Thailand banned commercial surrogacy in 2015. Only married Thai couples, or couples where one partner is Thai and the marriage is at least three years old, can pursue surrogacy. Hiring a surrogate can bring up to 10 years in prison.
- Nepal. The Nepali Supreme Court halted surrogacy in August 2015, and a formal ban followed the next month. The December 2016 final verdict permits surrogacy only for infertile married Nepali couples. It is illegal for single individuals, same-sex couples, transgender couples, and all foreign nationals. The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu warns that even ancillary services like birth documentation and exit visas will not be issued for surrogacy-born children.
- Russia. Russia was a popular destination for foreign intended parents until December 2022, when President Putin signed a law restricting surrogacy to married Russian citizens and single Russian women with a medical need. Couples with at least one Russian spouse may still access surrogacy. Foreign nationals with no Russian spouse cannot.
Altruistic-Only Countries That Are Not Commercial Destinations
Several countries allow surrogacy but forbid paying the surrogate anything beyond documented out-of-pocket expenses. They appear in search results often enough to be confused with commercial destinations, so the distinction matters.
- Canada. Altruistic surrogacy is legal throughout Canada except Quebec, which does not recognize surrogacy contracts at all. Paying a surrogate for her services is a criminal offense. Reimbursed expenses combined with agency, legal, and medical costs can still run $60,000 to over $100,000 CAD. Canada is open to all intended parents regardless of marital status or sexual orientation.
- United Kingdom. Surrogacy is legal on an altruistic basis, but surrogacy contracts are not legally enforceable. The surrogate is the legal mother at birth, and intended parents must obtain a parental order from a court after the birth to transfer legal parentage.
- Australia. Altruistic surrogacy is legal in all states and territories except the Northern Territory. Commercial surrogacy is a criminal offense.
- Colombia. The Constitutional Court’s 2009 ruling recognized surrogacy as legally permissible but required that it be altruistic. All intended parents, including foreigners and same-sex couples, may participate as long as there is a genetic link to the child. Total program costs often reach $55,000 to $77,000 when medical, legal, and logistical expenses are included.
- Greece. Altruistic surrogacy is legal, but as of May 2025, eligibility is restricted to Greek citizens and residents. The law permits payment of pregnancy-related expenses and lost wages, but not compensation for the surrogacy itself.
Citizenship and Statelessness Risks
The single biggest legal risk in international surrogacy is not the surrogacy contract itself. It is what happens when you try to bring the child home. Citizenship law and surrogacy law operate independently, and when they clash, children can end up stranded abroad or, in the worst cases, functionally stateless.
The problem works like this. The country where the child is born may recognize the intended parents as legal parents and refuse to grant the child citizenship, since the child “belongs” to foreign parents. Meanwhile, the intended parents’ home country may refuse to recognize the foreign surrogacy arrangement and decline to issue citizenship documents, because under its law the birth mother is the legal parent. The child falls into a gap where neither country claims them.
The risk grows when there is no genetic link between the intended parents and the child, when the intended parents come from a country that bans or does not recognize surrogacy, or when same-sex couples pursue surrogacy in jurisdictions that do not recognize their relationship. Divorce or separation of intended parents during the pregnancy, genetic mix-ups at fertility clinics, or a surrogate who changes her mind can all trigger the same trap.
For U.S. citizens, the path is somewhat more predictable. A child born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent can generally obtain a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, which documents U.S. citizenship at birth and serves as proof of citizenship for passport purposes.1USAGov. Prove Your Citizenship: Born Outside the U.S. to a U.S. Citizen Parent A biological connection to the U.S. citizen parent is typically required, which means at least one intended parent usually needs to provide genetic material.2U.S. Department of State. Birth of U.S. Citizens and Non-Citizen Nationals Abroad
Hiring counsel in both the surrogacy country and your home country is not optional for international arrangements. It is the only way to identify these gaps before they become emergencies.
Comparing Costs Across Destinations
Cost is a major driver of where intended parents go. The price difference between the U.S. and other destinations is what explains most cross-border arrangements despite the added legal complexity.
- United States. $100,000 to $300,000 or more, depending on state, agency fees, and whether complications arise.
- Ukraine. Guaranteed programs start around €75,000, roughly $80,000.
- Georgia. Generally comparable to Ukraine, with pricing that varies by clinic and agency.
- Mexico. Basic programs start around $49,000 to $60,000. Guaranteed programs run $70,000 to $90,000.
- Colombia. Despite its altruistic framework, total costs range from $55,000 to $77,000.
These figures cover agency fees, surrogate expenses or compensation, IVF and medical costs, and basic legal work. They rarely include travel, accommodation for intended parents, health insurance for the surrogate if her policy excludes surrogacy, or complications that extend the process. Budget at least 15 to 20 percent above quoted program prices for contingencies.