Surrogacy Process in India

How does the surrogacy process work in India? The sequence is fixed by law. A medical assessment comes first. Eligibility screening and legal certification follow it. IVF, embryo transfer and the pregnancy come only after those are complete. At delivery the child is recognised as the intended parents' from birth. Families should allow around 12 to 24 months for the journey as a whole. Each stage is set out below.

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The journey in outline

Surrogacy in India is a regulated sequence of medical and legal steps rather than a single procedure. Only altruistic surrogacy is lawful. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 governs every stage, and safety, consent and compliance are built into each one.

A medical need must be certified before anything else. Eligibility must then be confirmed. Treatment follows those two steps and cannot precede them. Families who understand this ordering avoid the delays that hold up everyone else. The legal foundation for each step is set out on our surrogacy law in India page.

The surrogacy process, step by step

Step 1 - The initial specialist consultation

The process opens with a consultation with a fertility specialist. Your medical history is reviewed, along with any previous fertility treatment and the circumstances that have brought you to consider surrogacy. Whether another treatment might still be viable is discussed honestly at this stage. Many families begin with an online consultation.

Step 2 - Certification of the medical indication

A District Medical Board must certify the medical condition that makes surrogacy necessary. The entire process rests on this document. Without a certified medical indication no further stage can proceed. No registered clinic is permitted to begin treatment either.

Step 3 - Eligibility assessment for both parties

Two separate sets of criteria apply. One governs the intended parents, the other the surrogate. The intended parents must satisfy the conditions relating to age, marriage and family status. The requirements placed on the surrogate are more extensive. She must be a close relative of the couple. She must be an ever-married woman between 25 and 35 who already has a child of her own. She must also be certified medically and psychologically fit. Both lists appear in full on our eligibility criteria and who can be a surrogate pages.

Step 4 - Counselling and informed consent

Counselling is provided to the intended parents. It is provided separately to the surrogate. She then gives informed, written consent, free from any form of pressure, once the medical procedures, the risks and the implications for her have been explained in full.

Step 5 - Certificates, court orders and insurance

These are completed in a set order. A Certificate of Eligibility is issued for the couple and for the surrogate. A Magistrate's parentage order establishes the child's legal parentage. A Certificate of Essentiality is obtained from the appropriate authority. Mandatory 36-month surrogate insurance must be arranged alongside them. Our eligibility criteria page sets out the full document sequence.

Step 6 - Embryo creation through IVF

The embryo is created through IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). The intended parents' own eggs and sperm are ordinarily used. A single donor gamete may be used where a District Medical Board certifies it as medically necessary. One IVF cycle usually takes four to six weeks.

Step 7 - Embryo transfer and confirmation of pregnancy

The surrogate's uterus is first prepared with hormonal support. The embryo is then transferred. The procedure is brief. A blood test approximately two weeks later confirms whether pregnancy has been achieved. Where a cycle is unsuccessful, the medical team will review it with you and discuss the options that remain.

Step 8 - Antenatal care across the three trimesters

Pregnancy is confirmed first. The surrogate then receives regular antenatal care and monitoring throughout all three trimesters, and she remains fully supported and insured throughout. This is much the longest stage of the journey. It spans approximately nine months.

Step 9 - Birth and the establishment of legal parentage

At birth the child is recognised as the biological child of the intended parents from the first day. Their names are entered on the birth certificate. NRI and OCI families face additional exit and documentation requirements. Our NRI & OCI eligibility page addresses these.

How long does the surrogacy process take?

The complete surrogacy journey in India usually takes around 12 to 24 months. The figure varies from case to case. It accounts for the screening and legal stages, the IVF cycle or cycles, and the nine months or so of pregnancy. Timelines commonly extend for a small number of familiar reasons:

• More than one IVF cycle proving necessary

• Delays in legal documentation, or in court scheduling

• The medical synchronisation required between the treatment plan and the surrogate

Certain stages carry minimum periods set by medical and legal requirements. These cannot be shortened. They exist for reasons of safety and compliance. Your medical team can give you a realistic estimate for your particular circumstances.

Common causes of delay, and how to prevent them

A small number of practical measures keep the process moving:

• Prepare documentation early and in full, since incomplete paperwork delays more surrogacy journeys than any other single factor

• Work only with clinics registered under the National ART and Surrogacy Board

• Confirm eligibility at the outset, as nothing can begin without a certified medical indication

• Establish in advance what happens if a cycle is unsuccessful, so that the implications for timeline and cost are clear before the question arises

The financial side of each stage is covered on our surrogacy cost in India page.

Our standards of practice

Surrogacy is a long and demanding process. Clarity at every stage of it matters. Oji Surrogacy & IVF Care commits to the following:

• No guaranteed pregnancy or treatment-outcome claims of any kind

• An individual medical and legal assessment in every case, rather than a standard template

• Evidence-based information, reviewed by qualified professionals

• Legal information stated against the regulations that actually apply, and explained in plain terms

• A clear account of what an online consultation can and cannot provide

• Respect for the privacy of intended parents and surrogates alike

The information on this page is general in nature. It is not a substitute for personalised medical or legal advice. Timelines and steps vary from case to case, and the law is subject to change. Confirm the current position for your own circumstances before acting on anything set out here.

Begin your journey with Oji Surrogacy & IVF Care

A consultation is the place to start if you would like to understand how the process would apply to your own situation. Our online consultations are personalised. They are honest and evidence-based at every step, and they carry no misleading claims.

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