Legal and Immigration Issues with Egg/Sperm Donation or Surrogacy Abroad

What are the legal and immigration implications with seeking third party reproduction in another country? Will you be able to get your child home? What must you prove to get your child citizenship? What are the special concerns of couples from other couples coming to the US for infertility treatments that are not allowed in their home country? Join our guests, Immigration and Reproductive Law Attorney Irene Steffas and Professor of Immigration Law at Mercer University School of Law, Scott Titshaw.

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  • Are there immigration and legal issues with going abroad for basic IVF using both the woman’s own egg and the man’s own sperm? Are there any immigration or legal issues for these patients?
  • Are their immigration issues associated with traveling to another country for IVF using donor egg or donor sperm?
  • So long as the woman comes back to the US to give birth, is there any problem?
  • Is there any reason to disguise the fact that you went abroad for egg donation when you come back to the US after the procedure?
  • What are the legal and immigration issues associated with fertility tourism with surrogacy in another country where the child is born in the other country when one of the parents has a genetic connection to the child?
  • Can a US citizen use a surrogate in another country with donor egg and donor sperm?
  • Can intended parents bring their child born to a surrogate abroad (India, Columbia, Czechoslovakia, etc.) back to the US? Can they get this child a US passport?
  • Can intended parents bring their child born to a surrogate abroad using both donor egg and sperm back into the US?
  • Would it be preferable to fly the surrogate to the US to give birth? Is this even done?
  • Can you fake a pregnancy and pretend that you gave birth in the foreign country and then return to the US with the child born to a surrogate with donor egg and sperm back into the US?
  • What about the legal and immigration issues with using donated embryos abroad? Most women would go abroad for the procedure but return to the US for the pregnancy and birth. So, are there any issues?
  • How does all this affect same sex couples, since they are one of the groups that utilize fertility tourism quite a bit because they have to use some form of third party reproduction and to save money often consider going abroad?
  • What happens to intended parents who live in other countries that come to the US for IF treatments that are not allowed in their home country? Can they get their children back home?