Who qualifies: citizens and permanent residents
Private Label Surrogacy accepts surrogates who are US citizens or lawful permanent residents, meaning green card holders. Visa holders, DACA recipients and undocumented candidates are not accepted.
This requirement is pending confirmation with Nancy Block, RN: whether PLS accepts US citizens and permanent residents, or US citizens with the right to work in the US only. Any language on this page about immigration status is pending review by counsel.
Citizenship or residency is one of the core surrogate requirements, alongside age 21 to 43, a BMI under 33, at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and currently parenting your own child. It is not a judgment about you or your family. It is about whether every piece of a surrogacy journey can rest on solid ground for you.
| Status | Eligible at PLS | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| US citizen | Yes | Can sign an enforceable agreement, hold insurance, receive compensation with tax reporting and stay in the US through recovery |
| Lawful permanent resident (green card) | Yes, with a current green card | Settled status that covers the full journey |
| Visa holder (work, student or other) | No | Status can end or change before delivery and the postpartum period are over |
| DACA recipient | No | Status depends on renewals that cannot be assured through the full journey |
| Undocumented | No | Cannot rely on the contract, insurance, escrow payments and tax reporting a journey requires |
Why visa holders are not accepted
The reason is practical. A surrogacy journey depends on documents, and all of them assume you will be here, legally, from the first screening appointment to your recovery after delivery.
To carry for intended parents, you need to be able to:
- Sign an enforceable contract. Your gestational carrier agreement sets out your compensation, your medical decisions and the parents' legal parentage. You review it with your own attorney.
- Hold health insurance that covers the pregnancy. PLS reviews your plan. If it excludes surrogacy, the intended parents fund a surrogacy-friendly policy.
- Receive compensation through escrow. Intended parents fund an independent licensed escrow agent, and your compensation is paid from that account with tax reporting.
- Stay in the US through delivery and the postpartum period. A whole journey typically takes 18 to 24 months.
A visa can expire, change or depend on a job or a school. If your status ended in the middle of a pregnancy, your health care, your income and the parents' legal steps would all be at risk. PLS does not accept that risk on your behalf.
What documents you show at prescreen
The prescreen asks about your status. If you are a lawful permanent resident, you must show a current green card at prescreen. If yours is close to expiring, renew it before you apply.
US citizens confirm citizenship with a US passport, birth certificate or naturalization certificate during screening.
Your identity is also confirmed through the background check PLS runs on every adult in your household. Use your full legal name on the prescreen, exactly as it appears on your ID.
Does your partner need to be a citizen?
No. Your spouse or partner does not need to be a US citizen or permanent resident. The requirement applies to you, because you are the one signing the agreement as the surrogate, carrying the pregnancy and receiving compensation.
Your partner still takes part in screening. Every adult in your household goes through the background check, and a spouse or live-in partner joins part of the independent psychological evaluation. If you are married, your spouse also signs the agreement.
Do you need to speak English?
Yes, fluently. Your contract, the clinic's instructions and your medication protocol are delivered in English. In the weeks before a transfer you follow a precise schedule of injections, pills and patches, and the dose and the day matter. Misreading an instruction carries medical risk to you and to the pregnancy.
Fluency also matters for the people around you. You will speak regularly with your case manager, your OB and the intended parents' clinic. Speaking another language at home as well is no barrier.
Can you be a surrogate for international parents?
Yes. Private Label Surrogacy serves intended parents across the US and abroad, and you can carry for a family that lives outside the US. Your citizenship requirement stays the same. It is the parents who travel.
Jan Telman Berman, PLS's Global Surrogacy Coordinator, manages national and international cycles, with more than 18 years in the work. Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, one of PLS's case managers, delivered a boy for an international couple in October 2016 as a gestational surrogate, so she knows the experience from your side.
A federal executive order dated August 6, 2026, on citizenship for children born through compensated surrogacy to two non-citizen parents is under litigation. Status as of [DATE], reviewed by counsel.
If you are a citizen or permanent resident and meet the other requirements, start at See if I qualify. Also check which states you can be a surrogate in, and read what disqualifies a surrogate if anything else in your history is unclear.
Sources
- ASRM (American Society for Reproductive Medicine), recommendations for practices using gestational carriers. asrm.org
- SEEDS (Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy), of which Nancy Block, RN, is a former President.