With Ukraine being one of the most popular surrogacy destinations, many couples choose this country as the starting point of their surrogacy journey. Ukraine has pretty liberal surrogacy laws in comparison with other countries, but still, a few restrictions apply. In this article, you will learn more about the existing regulations and restrictions of the surrogacy law in Ukraine.
Legal surrogacy programs in Ukraine
According to the law, only gestational surrogacy is allowed, meaning the surrogate mother and the child must not have any genetic connection.
With this being said, gestational surrogacy is allowed in many forms:
- using eggs and sperm cells from the intended parents;
- using donor eggs;
- using donor sperm;
- using frozen embryo transfer technology.
IVF is the most common technology for surrogacy programs in Ukraine.
Who is eligible for surrogacy treatment in Ukraine?
Only officially married heterosexual couples that meet medical indications are eligible to enter a surrogacy program in Ukraine.
These medical indications include:
- congenital or acquired deformation of the uterus or cervix;
- absence of the uterus;
- chronic or severe diseases that make it impossible to carry a child to term;
- male or female infertility;
- three or more failed IVF attempts.
You have to bring your medical records and marriage certificate to prove your eligibility for a surrogacy program.
Child-carrying contract
A child-carrying contract is written between the intended parents and the surrogate mother candidate if she satisfies all of their personal, psychological, and medical conditions and they choose to work with her. Two copies of this contract, one for the intending parents and the other for the surrogate mother must be signed in front of a notary public.
Contracts involving foreign nationals must be written in both the foreign party’s native language and Ukrainian.
The intended parents can choose a fertility lawyer to assist them with the legal side of the surrogacy program. This includes writing, reviewing, negotiating, and signing the surrogacy agreement.
Birth registration and citizenship of the surrogate-born baby
It is important to note that Ukrainian law is quite liberal when it comes to birth registration since the names of the intended parents are entered in the Vital Statistics Office’s birth entry from the very beginning.
Such registration is carried out by Ukrainian law upon requests from foreign nationals and stateless individuals.
If a woman who had been implanted with a spouses’ embryo gave birth to the kid, the married couple who had approved the implantation would need to apply for the birth to be registered. A notarized surrogate’s permission is all that is required to have the names of the couple listed as the parents of the kid or children, together with the birth certificate for the child and a genetic connection certificate for the intended parents.
The married couple is legitimately listed as the parents of their newborn kid or children in this instance.
The birth registration process typically takes a few hours, and the birth certificate is provided the same day as the application if all required paperwork is on hand. It is standard procedure to receive a birth certificate within five business days after the baby’s birth.
As a result, the surrogate mother and her partner don’t receive parental rights for the newborn baby in Ukraine, but the intended parents do.
A child born in Ukraine through a surrogate mother and as a consequence of the transfer of an embryo produced by a foreign married couple is not automatically granted Ukrainian citizenship. If a foreigner gives birth to a kid on Ukrainian soil, the infant cannot obtain Ukrainian citizenship unless both parents legally reside in Ukraine and have been there continuously for the whole of the child’s life.
If Ukrainian law doesn’t define it differently, foreigners and stateless people must enter and depart Ukraine through the crossing points on the state border while in possession of a national passport and a visa.
Therefore, as the final step of the Ukrainian surrogacy program, the intended parents must take action to obtain a passport or visa for their surrogate child.