Surrogacy laws may leave Australian babies stateless
Tuesday 5 March 2013 @ 11.00 a.m. | Legal Research
In a recent article on abc news, new changes to India's surrogacy laws may leave babies born from Australian parents as effectively stateless after surrogate arrangement will not be allowed to proceed if couples are not heterosexual and married for more than 2 years.
Currently in Australia, commercial surrogacy is illegal. The ban has resulted in a steady flow of heterosexual and gay Australians to India, where the unregulated fertility industry produces hundreds of surrogate babies for Australians each year.
Under the new Indian laws, Australians now require medical visas and the Indian government will only issue these to heterosexual couples who have been married for at least two years.
Usually, a positive DNA test is all the Australian High Commission requires to issue citizenship by descent, but, Surrogacy law expert Professor Millbank says babies could be left stateless if the Department of Immigration and Citizenship refuses to issue citizenship to infants created in breach of Indian law.
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