SURROGACY IN TBILISI, GEORGIA PART 1

 

Hello all
So I know I haven't really blogged about any activities for a while but that is because I am waiting for my baby's passport to be done in Tbilisi, Georgia who was born through surrogacy here. So since I blog about everything, I thought I will blog about my surrogacy experience so far here. SO HERE GOES:

• We decided to embark upon surrogacy in Tbilisi, Georgia, last January
• Our reasons for choosing Georgia were:
• Close proximity to the UK (versus other countries where you can do surrogacy e.g. India)
• Reasonable costs
• It's easy to live in while you wait for your child's passport (European city with good layout - you don't need cars to get to places. You can walk around. It is a lovely old city with pretty much all the same shops as London and most importantly, it is a  very safe city
• Cost of living here is reasonable compared with London (mind you its really cheap but all the prices get hiked up if you are a foreigner but even so its reasonable)
• So step 1 was finding a clinic - we actually saw two places:
• New Life in Georgia http://newlifegeorgia.com/- this is an agency and it contracts various clinics for surrogacy procedures. I felt the set up was very commercial and they require all the money in advance although they keep it "as safety" and the bulk of it is refunded in case of no live birth. The agency also has a database of surrogates that you can meet and select from
• In Vitro Clinic Georgia - http://invitro.ge/?lang=en - This is an independent clinic. I met with the doctor who would do the procedure and the clinic Head. They were both very nice and very upfront. They are trying to build the clinic's reputation internationally so it is in their interest that the procedure goes well. They don't hav ean extensive database of surrogates but they know the ladies they do have very well and they are all very lovely and very nice women. A word of advice here, British citizens embarking on surrogacy MUST CHOOSE A SINGLE SURROGATE WHO HAS HAD A CHILD BEFORE. If not, there can be real complications in getting a passport for your baby.
• Also InVitro do not ask for all the money upfront - you have ~10 months to pay it
• Also, they are very responsive. Your emails get answered within 24 h
• Finally, a representative from the clinic will help you collect all your paperwork after the birth of your child (for UK passport) - again extremely helpful, especially since language is a barrier here in government departments
• So we decided to go with InVitro Clinic and proceeded with the surrogacy
• The next steps were to get a lot of paperwork in progress - I am going to write a separate post on the paperwork needed by British citizens to do the surrogacy process and get the baby his/her British passport. So watch this space.

XXX

Tbilisi

Historic City