Couple who went to Belarus for baby through surrogacy face losing job due to ‘hellish’ 12-week Home Office application

A father who had a baby through surrogacy in Belarus last month has been told registering his daughter in the UK could take 12 weeks, so he now faces losing his job or having to abandon his wife and newborn in eastern Europe.

Graeme Batsman, a 37-year-old cyber security expert, and his wife Maura, 41, from Harrow, London, have already spent £45,000 and six weeks in Vitebsk, Belarus, where their daughter Bella was born on June 5.

The couple were looking forward to returning to the UK with their daughter but were shocked to learn they may have to wait another 12 weeks for the Home Office to register the birth and issue Bella with a passport.

This poses a problem for Graeme who has been told by his employer, who he does not wish to name, that they are expecting him back to work next week on July 15 and will not allow him to work from Belarus – which the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to.

The couple, who started the surrogacy process before Belarus’ neighbour Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 2022, have criticised the Home Office procedure for making their life “hell” and said they could also face deportation when their tourist visas run out on August 19.

“So you’re forcing me to abandon my child and wife for god knows how many weeks and months to save my job, when we’ve already gone through enough in the first place,” Graeme told PA Real Life.

“We think it’s unfair that you have to go through all this to get the child and then the immigration office is just there to make your life hell for the next year for no logical reason.

“It’s just unfair that we’re treated like this.

“There will probably be people out there judging us, saying well ‘why Belarus?’ but we technically came here before the war.

“People who have a desire to have a child don’t really care about politics.”

Graeme and his wife Maura, who is originally from the Philippines, met in early 2021 and married a year later.

They wanted to start a family but were told they could not conceive due to medical complications and that even through IVF, their chances of success were slim.

Not wanting to give up on having a child, the couple decided to explore the option of surrogacy – when a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple.

The cost of surrogacy in the UK can exceed £50,000, according to Sensible Surrogacy Agency, and even more in the United States.

To avoid paying such high fees, the couple looked at other countries and eventually settled on the Republic of Belarus, in Eastern Europe, which they said has favourable rules.

In February 2022, they arrived in Belarus a few weeks before Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine.

They attended the Bina Clinic in Vitebsk and were given the green light after undergoing a series of background and medical tests.

An embryo was successfully implanted into the surrogate mother in August 2023 and last month, on May 30 the couple returned to Belarus by car to welcomed their daughter, named Bella after the country where she was born.

“We drove here because there was no direct flight and we wanted to bring a baby car seat, a pram and all sorts of other bits and pieces,” he said.

Graeme and his wife paid the surrogate mother around £275 a month for 10 months and a £13,000 fee once the baby was born, as well as her daily expenses.

They were looking forward to returning home but first Bella must be registered in the UK and be issued with a passport – which is proving harder than they expected.

To facilitate the process, Graeme has paid £3,000 to enlist the help of UK immigration specialist law firm Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP who provided him with a 19 point “to do list”.

“The Home Office or someone has created this check list based on UK law, but Belarus is not UK law,” he said.

One of the biggest hurdles has been getting a notary to witness consent by the surrogate mother and her spouse, according to Graeme.

“The notaries here were telling us to go away because the document is based on UK law and they would only stamp a document based upon the local legal system,” he said.

“This wasted three days of my life.”

Obtaining Bella’s birth certificate has also taken an additional three and half weeks, and is now having to be translated into English.

The couple have had to provide a letter explaining why they chose surrogacy, medical records and evidence of their stay in the country, including flights, hotels and insurance receipts.

“There are a lot of duplicates and the UK’s legal process is just totally messed up,” he said.

Upon submission, Graeme will have to pay the Home Office registration fee of £1,214, plus additional costs for passports.

Graeme has been warned it could take more than 12 weeks to process, and having already taken time off work, he fears losing his job.

“I’ve taken five or six weeks off so far,” he said.

“I then managed to extend it by two weeks, which my company wasn’t very happy with.

“Now they say I have to come back on the 15th of July which is in seven days time.

“I of course can’t work here because Belarus is considered a ‘naughty country’ – so I didn’t bring my work laptop because I’m not allowed to.”

His only alternative is leaving his wife and new born baby in Belarus on their own, a decision he is not willing to take.

“My wife would have to stay here in the apartment by herself and look after the baby,” he said.

“She would have to stay here in the apartment which is on the fourth floor and doesn’t have a lift.

Graeme is also concerned their 90-day tourist visas are due to expire on August 19, which means they could soon be fined and deported.

Even if their application is successful in time, driving the 1,400 miles back to the UK will not be easy for Graeme and Maura who have to cross several borders.

Once back in the UK, the couple must then file a parental order with the High Court, a document which confers parental responsibility upon an individual, that Graeme said will cost an additional £255.

In total, he estimates spending around £45,000 on the surrogacy and administrative process.

His application was submitted on Friday July 5 after pleading with the British Embassy in Belarus to expedite the process.

“If you say to them, I’m going to lose my job, they don’t care,” he said.

“You have to literally be dead and then they might help you.”

Asked whether he would recommend having a child through surrogacy in Belarus, Graeme said: “The desire to have a child is rather high, so people will probably do whatever they can.

“Whatever country you do this in, it’s going to be expensive and the application won’t change drastically.

“We started this two and a half years ago and it’s been a constant fight.

“I’m sure one day it will be positive but it’s not pleasant.”

The Home Office has been approached for comment.