Surrogacy in Ukraine: the complete guide to law, process, cost and contract

What changed, and when

Dates come from the same sources as the positions below. An entry that says a bill was not adopted is there because the record would be misleading without it.

1. May 7, 2026

   Reporting in May 2026 described Ukraine as a global surrogacy hub still open to foreign intended parents, while noting that officials were considering ending access for them.

   Ukraine is a global surrogacy hub, but that could be about to change , checked Oct 17, 2026

2. Aug 13, 2026

   A bill registered in parliament on 13 August 2026 would remove foreign intended parents from surrogacy programmes except where a spouse is Ukrainian; it has not been adopted.

   Parliament proposes changes to Ukraine's surrogacy rules , checked Oct 17, 2026

Which families this route is open to

These rows come from the same record as the legal position above, and each one names the source that states it. A family type appears only where that type is written into the provision.

• A married couple

  Permitted

  Сурогатне материнство (legal aid knowledge base entry) , checked Oct 17, 2026

• A couple living together, A single person, Two men as intended parents, Two women as intended parents

  Not permitted

  Сурогатне материнство (legal aid knowledge base entry) , checked Oct 17, 2026

• Intended parents living abroad

  Permitted on conditions A bill registered in August 2026 would remove foreign intended parents from this route. It has not been adopted.

  Parliament proposes changes to Ukraine's surrogacy rules , checked Oct 17, 2026

The process, stage by stage

A surrogacy programme is a run of separate stages, not one decision. The order shifts with the destination and with whether you need donated eggs or sperm. The full walkthrough, with the questions each stage raises:

1. 1

   Set out your own situation

   Your medical, legal and financial facts come first, because they decide which destinations are open to you at all.

2. 2

   Choose a destination before a clinic

   The place is chosen on legal grounds, before any money moves. The legal-considerations guide lists what to confirm.

3. 3

   Screening, both ways

   Your fertility work-up and the carrier’s medical and psychological screening. FIGO’s position is that psychological screening and ongoing support should be mandatory.

4. 4

   Matching

   How a programme pairs you with a carrier is where marketed and delivered service differ most. Ask in writing what happens if a match is not reached.

5. 5

   The agreement, and the money behind it

   Before treatment, the arrangement is set down in writing and should carry the funds, not just point at them. Escrow is usually funded before the first transfer.

6. 6

   Treatment and transfer

   Medication and monitoring, then the embryo transfer. From here the timeline is no longer yours: clinic schedule and the carrier’s cycle decide.

7. 7

   Pregnancy

   Prenatal care is the obstetrician’s. What you pay for, and who decides, are contract questions that should already be settled.

8. 8

   Birth and parentage

   The parentage path decides what happens in the delivery room and after. Only a lawyer in that jurisdiction can say which path applies to you.

9. 9

   Bringing the child home

   Registration, passport or consular documents, and whatever your home country requires. Cross-border parents are not rare: a third of US surrogate transfers involved them.

Cost figures published for this destination

Each number below is one a named source published, in that source's own currency, for the year stated. It is a published figure with a citation rather than a quote, and the source that printed it is linked from the row.

The contract is the legal core

Before any treatment begins, the arrangement should be written down and should carry the money, not merely point at it. What every contract must cover, and the clauses worth insisting on:

Choosing an agency

The agency is the one party whose incentives are not yours by default. We do not name agencies on this site: what follows is how to ask, and how to judge whether an agency is sound, before you sign.

Questions people ask

Is surrogacy legal everywhere?

No. It ranges from explicitly permitted to prohibited, and within federal countries it varies by state or province. The legal basis for each destination is set out at the top of this page, with its source and the date it was checked.

Can intended parents from another country use this route?

It depends on the destination. The "intended parents from abroad" cell in the summary strip above says whether the sources behind this record admit foreign commissioning parents, and the admissions section below names the family types each rule opens to.

When is parentage settled?

That is the single biggest planning difference between systems. Some name an intended parent at birth; others treat the woman who gives birth as the legal mother until a court moves parentage afterwards. Which one applies to you only a lawyer in that jurisdiction can say.

What does the price usually include?

A programme price is built from several lines, and scope matters more than the headline total. The figures a source has published for this destination are in the cost table above, and the full breakdown of what a quote usually leaves out is in the cost guide.

Do I have to travel there myself?

Usually, yes, at least for some steps. Signing before treatment, attending a court or registrar, collecting documents and staying after the birth are separate requirements that often come from clinic practice and the court rather than the statute. How many trips you can make often narrows the field before cost does.

Is there an average surrogacy cost?

No single figure applies. The total depends on the destination, on what the programme includes, and on what a quote leaves out, so an average would hide the differences that decide whether a plan is feasible. The per-line figures on this page and the cost guide show why.

How does the child come home?

Birth registration, a passport or consular documents, and whatever your home country requires to recognise the arrangement. The steps differ by where the child is born and where you live, and the documents guide walks through them.

What each position rests on

• Surrogacy in Ukraine is available only to a married couple, and single men, single women and same-sex couples have no right to take part in a programme; it is used on a commercial basis under an agreement between the married couple and the carrier, with no stated limit on payments; the spouses are recorded as the parents on the strength of their application, a certificate of genetic kinship of a parent with the child, and the carrier's consent to that entry with her signature notarised.

  Сурогатне материнство (legal aid knowledge base entry) · Ukrainian free secondary legal aid system , checked Oct 17, 2026

• Bill 15507, registered in the Verkhovna Rada on 13 August 2026, would ban surrogacy for foreigners and stateless persons except where one of the spouses is a Ukrainian citizen, and would require the intended parents to have permanently resided in Ukraine for at least three years before entering into the agreement. It is a registered proposal, not enacted law.

  Parliament proposes changes to Ukraine's surrogacy rules · Ukrinform, the Ukrainian national news agency , checked Oct 17, 2026

• As of May 2026, Ukraine's parliament was considering banning surrogacy for foreigners, whom officials in the reporting described as roughly 95 per cent of the intended parents using the country's programmes, and a health ministry official was quoted supporting the move. The reporting describes the route as still open to foreign intended parents at that date. The same report records one couple who used a Kyiv agency as having paid around 65,000 pounds, which it converts to 87,770 US dollars, and states that a woman carrying for that agency expected 12,500 pounds, or 17,000 US dollars, which it notes is roughly double the average salary in Ukraine.

  Ukraine is a global surrogacy hub, but that could be about to change · BBC News , checked Oct 17, 2026