447 days after he was born through surrogacy in China, a child was finally granted Australian citizenship.
An Australian man approached me late last year seeking assistance because his son born through surrogacy in China had been waiting for 10 months for Australian citizenship. This Intended Parent had been enticed by the offer of low cost surrogacy using a Thai surrogate having an embryo transfer in Cambodia and then the Thai surrogate travelling to China to deliver the child. The problem is that surrogacy is illegal for foreign intended parents in each of those countries.
Australia is a signatory to several international conventions for protecting children and stopping human trafficking. As such the government has different obligations and considerations when an Australian citizen applies for citizenship by descent for a child born through surrogacy involving countries where surrogacy is illegal or prohibited. Essentially in this type of case the Australian government must get a form of consent from the relevant countries. For all 447 days since this child was born it was Stateless – without citizenship of any country and not entitled to any citizenship other than that of Australia. The cost benefits of undertaking surrogacy in Asia were quickly outweighed by the significant costs of the child remaining in a country where it had no rights to any health, medical, welfare or support services.
DO NOT BE ENTICED BY THE PROMISES OF AGENCIES OR THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF OTHERS WHO CLAIM TO HAVE MANAGED THE PROCESS SMOOTHLY. The laws in Asia are quite clear. Foreign intended parents cannot undertake legal surrogacy in any Asian country.
