IVF and Surrogacy tourism in Europe. Surrogacy in Greece.

Location for European tourists: 10 from 10

IVF and Surrogacy: allowed

Egg Donors: allowed/anonymous, altruistic donors

Requirements for couples for Surrogacy: married or unmarried heterosexual couples, single women (in both cases woman should not be more than 50 y.o.), possible only altruistic surrogacy, agreement needs pre-approval in the Court

Transparency of the clinic’s work: 10 from 10

Medical facilities and technology available: 10 from 10

Maternity houses and NICU departments: 10 from 10

Maternal mortality rate: 3 deaths per 100,000 live births            

Children’s mortality rate (infants under-5): 4.5 per 1000 live births

Corruption level: Low

Epidemiological situation in the country: Good

Greece is one of the most popular tourists’ destinations in the world and is widely known not only as a resort, but also as a competitive location for IVF treatment and surrogacy in Europe. Surrogacy is allowed here from 2002 for local citizens and from 2014 – for foreigners, that have made Greece very attractive for EU-citizens, who has ability to travel home with their babies immediately after their surrogacy program is finished.

Please, be aware that surrogacy is allowed only to applicants or surrogate mothers who have their permanent residence in Greece.

Who can apply for surrogacy in Greece?

Surrogacy services are available here for both married and not married heterosexual couples and single women under 50 y.o. All agreements should be altruistic and get approval in the Court before any embryo-transfer is done to the Surrogate mother´s body. Such court hearing should be initiated by the Intended Mother, as such services as surrogacy could be given only from one woman to another. The trial usually takes here up to 8 months.

Despite the altruistic character of surrogacy agreements, the Surrogate mother is entitled to receive compensation for her travelling expenditures, medicines and work losses during pregnancy that in total should not exceed 10.000 euros.

There is a possibility to use egg/sperm donor’s cells for Infertility treatment here, as well as embryo-donation, because Greek legislation does not require genetic link to the Intended Parents. All these services also should be altruistic. Neither the surrogate mother, nor the egg donor have parental rights over the babies born via surrogacy.

Is adoption needed?

Intended Parents appear in all legal documents as parents of the babies born via surrogacy from the very beginning, because their parental rights are already recognized by Greek Court decision, that approved surrogacy agreement. So no need to undergo adoption or any other procedure in the end of the surrogacy program. Be aware, that according to Greek legislation babies are entitled to get Greek citizenship only if one the parents (in our case intended mother or intended father) is Greek.

Therefore it is necessary to be sure that the country of your origin will recognize such babies as its citizens before the surrogacy process starts, especially if you are going to use donation services.

No need to emphasize that the high quality of medical services in Greek clinics thanks to strict European standards. At the same time, having the most liberal legislation about assisted reproductive technologies and surrogacy, Greek clinics have not very high prices for treatment comparable with other European countries.

On the other side, any intermediary activity is surrogacy field (such as agencies or recruiters of surrogate mothers), as well as advertising of surrogacy is prohibited in Greece and can cause criminal sanctions for participants from 1.500 euro fine to 2 years of imprisonment. This can cause some difficulties in the surrogacy journey of the Intended Parents, as according to Greek legislation they will need to find and to attend their surrogate mother by themselves.

Still don’t know how to choose country for your surrogacy program? Read in our blog!