If we talk about Canada, it’s illegal to seek the paid services from a surrogate mother or paying for human sperm and eggs. Moreover, only altruistic surrogacy is allowed in Canada and matching the surrogates with the parents’ along with co-related services is strictly prohibited. Also, the agencies are only allowed to provide paid assistance in regards to:
There are a number of benefits while seeking a surrogacy arrangement in Canada and cost is the biggest of them all. whilst the surrogacy arrangement in USA costs up to $120,000, same can only be practiced in Canada for around $70, 000.Moroever, the baby which gets born out of the surrogacy arrangement is eligible for the Canadian citizenship and the intended parents can soon fly back to their own country with the baby’s Canadian passport alongside.
Canada also offers national health care service, which covers up all the charges in relation to the surrogate and the delivery process. This can help both the intended parents and the surrogate mother big time in saving lot of money for all those treatments during the pregnancy. However the same social security service doesn’t cover up the child of a foreign citizens, so every cost in relation to NICU care or an incubator (in case of a premature delivery) comes as the sole responsibility of the intended parents.
There are certain Canadian provinces that permit altruistic surrogacy within their legal territories for foreign couples. However, there are certain surrogacy agencies in Canada that may not provide the required services and assistance. Hence, getting onboard with your respective surrogacy agency is highly recommended.
Moreover, the waiting time for the surrogate mother may go up to 6 to 12 months depending on the surrogacy agency you are dealing with.
The couples may require signing an agreement with the surrogate mother before carrying out the embryo transfer process. Ontario parentage legislation approves this agreement as an evidence one shall file for the custody of the future child. The agreement would carry all the details and clauses that are a part of your surrogacy agreement with the service agency, including the birth registration details and parentage declaration.
The country has recently passed ‘All families are equal’ act that further makes the acceptance of legal status of parents in Ontario irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The act has proved to be a life saver for most of the same-sex couples who didn’t have an option of IVF for their specific surrogacy plan earlier. Moreover, there are some critical changes in the Ontario parentage laws starting from 2nd of January 2017 after the passing of ‘all families are equal’ act. According to the law, the gay couple requires an ovum donor and a surrogate mother to carry through the surrogacy.
Every province in Canada got its respective laws and guidelines regarding birth registration and parentage declaration in Canada. Still, British Columbia and Ontario is the best province that facilitates the surrogacy process better than others. So, being an intended parent, you need to think about the place where the childbirth has to be done before the commencement of the surrogacy process.
So if you are a foreigner who is looking for Surrogacy in Canada, there are two main things that you need to think about beforehand – birth registration laws of the country in which the surrogacy program is planned and the parentage laws of couple’s own country.