How much does surrogacy cost?

The costs of surrogacy vary considerably depending on where you undergo your surrogacy journey, as well as your personal circumstances. The information on this page gives a very broad outline, but it is important to budget for your individual circumstances and to plan for some contingency. 

How much does surrogacy in the UK cost?

 

A healthy overall budget for UK surrogacy can vary from £20,000 to £80,000+, comprising:  

  • Surrogate expenses 
  • Fertility treatment costs 
  • Agency or organisation fees 
  • Legal fees 
  • Contingency such as failed transfers, travel and accommodation and unexpected life changes 

Surrogacy in the UK takes place in a range of different ways, with friends or family members or surrogates previously unknown to the intended parents, via non-profit UK surrogacy organisations or independent matches online, and via both traditional and gestational surrogacy.  All these variables have an impact on the budget, and so anyone planning UK surrogacy should budget carefully for their particular circumstances. 

 

How much does surrogacy in the USA cost?

 

A healthy overall budget for US surrogacy for UK parents is £250,000 to £320,000+, comprising:  

  • Agency fees (covering all relevant agencies) 
  • Surrogate (and donor) expenses and compensation  
  • Fertility treatment costs  
  • US health insurance (both for surrogate and newborn) 
  • US legal fees  
  • UK /international legal fees  
  • Other professional fees  
  • Personal travel and accommodation  
  • A contingency 

Anyone planning US surrogacy should budget carefully for their personal circumstances. International intended parents need to take particular care since US professionals often offer packaged fee which, in combining some but not all of the elements, can suggest that a US surrogacy journey will cost less than it actually does: advertised packages rarely represent a true ‘all in’ cost for parents from overseas.   

The costs of a US surrogacy journey are not all paid upfront, but are paid in advance of each stage, so understanding the timing of when funds will be needed is important as well as planning the overall budget. Generally speaking, parents can expect funding to be expected in three major tranches: on engaging the professionals they are working with at the outset, prior to embryo transfer (when the escrow account is funded for the treatment and pregnancy expenses), and from the second half of the pregnancy (in relation to legal costs and travel for the birth). 

 

Costs in the other main international surrogacy destinations

 

Other international surrogacy destinations typically cost less than the US, although lower cost typically means a very different kind of service and/or a much longer wait to bring your baby home after the birth.   

Surrogacy in Canada – £80,000 to £120,000, covering surrogacy consultant fees (with consultants working in a different way to US surrogacy agencies, with less screening and longer timescales), surrogate/donor expenses (with limits in Canada), fertility treatment costs, Canadian legal fees, Canadian health insurance, UK legal fees and travel and accommodation. 

Surrogacy in Ukraine and Georgia – £30,000 to £70,000, covering the fee charged by the agency/clinic for the whole surrogacy process (including surrogate recruitment, IVF treatment, surrogate compensation, antenatal and delivery care, some administrative and legal services to help with birth registration), UK legal fees and personal travel and accommodation (bearing in mind that it typically takes 3-5 months for a surrogate baby to be issued with a UK passport).  

 

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