For couples from Canada · Reviewed June 2026 · Updated November 2026
Canada permits surrogacy, but only the unpaid kind — and the waiting lists show it. Going abroad is lawful for Canadian intended parents, and the whole journey turns on two pieces of paper: the birth certificate issued in your names where your child is born, and the proof of Canadian citizenship that brings your family home.
Nothing on this page criticizes Canada's framework — it reflects a deliberate ethical choice. But that choice has practical consequences for couples who cannot wait years.
Most couples who write to us are already in their late thirties or forties after years of IVF. A four-year domestic wait is not a neutral delay — it is the difference between using your own embryos and not. That, more than money, is why Canadians come to us.
In all three of our program countries, the intended parents are the legal parents at birth by operation of law. Ukraine writes it into Article 123 of its Family Code; Georgia has run this framework since 1997; Armenia follows the same model. The surrogate has no parental claim to assert, and there is no adoption or custody hearing — the certificate simply issues in your names.
One flat price across all three countries, paid in milestones, in US dollars. Full inclusions on the cost page; the three destinations compared on the programs page.
Your child's Canadian citizenship flows from you, not from the place of birth. Since Bill C-3 came into force on 15 December 2025, the rules have two tracks — and which track you are on should be checked before the embryo transfer, not after the birth.
Nothing changed for you: your child born abroad is a Canadian citizen at birth. We document the genetic link to the Canadian parent — IRCC expects it in assisted-reproduction cases — and file the proof-of-citizenship application with the birth records we prepare.
Under Bill C-3 you can now pass citizenship on — the old first-generation limit is gone — provided you show a substantial connection to Canada: 1,095 days of physical presence before your child's birth. If your presence history is thin, we flag it in the first consultation, because it can change which of you should be the genetic parent.
After citizenship is confirmed, the first Canadian passport issues and you fly home. Plan on several weeks in the program country after the birth for translations, the application and the passport; your coordinator runs the timeline with you.
Citizenship is federal; family status is provincial. Most provinces offer a straightforward court declaration recognizing you both as parents on the provincial record — useful for health cards, schools and inheritance.
Foreign birth certificate with apostille and certified translation, the surrogacy agreement, genetic evidence and the citizenship certificate. We hand it over complete — it is the same file we built before the birth.
Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and most others have well-worn procedures; a family lawyer files the application and hearings are rarely contested. We are glad to introduce Canadian lawyers who have worked with Ukrainian, Georgian and Armenian files.
Provincial recognition aligns every domestic record with the reality your child has lived since birth — two parents, one family.
Five steps. First, a free consultation that checks your citizenship track under Bill C-3 and your medical situation. Second, the program in Ukraine, Georgia or Armenia — surrogate matching, IVF or embryo transfer and the pregnancy, usually 12–18 months in total. Third, the birth certificate issued in both your names by statute: immediately in Ukraine and Armenia, within one to two weeks in Georgia. Fourth, proof of Canadian citizenship and the first Canadian passport, usually two to four weeks after the birth. Fifth, back home, a declaration of parentage in your province. We prepare the document file for every step.
With Novaparent, a program costs $47,000, $60,000 or $75,000 all-inclusive, at the same price in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. In Canada surrogacy is altruistic only; market estimates for a full Canadian journey are about $80,000–130,000 including IVF, reimbursed expenses and legal costs, and matching with a surrogate commonly takes two to four years. Your own travel and Canadian legal advice are budgeted separately.
No. The AHRA's compensation ban governs conduct in Canada; it does not criminalize Canadian residents who join a program in a country where compensated surrogacy is lawful and regulated. The legal work for you is on the documentation side — citizenship and provincial parentage — and both are well-established paths.
Only if the Canadian parent passing on citizenship was themselves born outside Canada. Parents born or naturalized in Canada transmit citizenship to a child born abroad exactly as before Bill C-3. If you are in the affected group, the 1,095 days of physical presence must predate the birth — one more reason the citizenship review belongs at the start of the program, not the end.
Plan two to four weeks. The local birth certificate issues immediately in Ukraine and Armenia and within one to two weeks in Georgia; the rest is translations, the citizenship application and the passport — which we prepare before the birth.
If time is on your side, honestly — yes, and Canadian agencies run ethical altruistic programs. Our clients are usually couples for whom two to four more years is medically unaffordable, or who have already had a domestic match fall through. In the free consultation we will tell you frankly if waiting at home is the better plan for your situation.
Some do, knowingly: programs run only through the western and central regions, births take place in Kyiv or Lviv under full security protocols, and nobody in our care has been harmed in four years of conflict. Others prefer Georgia or Armenia at the same flat price precisely to retire the question. Both choices are reasonable, and we will not push you either way.
We will check the citizenship track that applies to you, map the timeline against your embryos and your province, and send a written summary you can take to a Canadian lawyer. Evenings Eastern time work fine for us.
Novaparent is an agency registered in Ukraine and works with heterosexual couples with a medical indication — married couples in all three countries, and unmarried couples who have lived together for at least one year in Georgia. More about us in the founder's letter.