Shipping Your Frozen Embryos to Mexico City for Surrogacy: Cost, Permits and Timeline | Enlistalo

A lot of the families who write to me about surrogacy are not starting from zero.

They already did IVF at home. Sometimes more than once.

They have frozen embryos sitting in a clinic in Texas, California, Ontario or Quebec, and they have been told, for medical reasons, that they need a gestational carrier.

Then they look at the price of surrogacy in the U.S. or the wait in Canada, and the first question they ask me is always the same.

"Can we just send our embryos to Mexico?"

Yes, you can. And it is usually the simplest and most affordable way to do surrogacy in Mexico City.

Why using your existing embryos changes everything

If your embryos already exist, there is no new IVF cycle to plan.

No stimulation, no egg retrieval, no donor selection.

You go straight to what actually matters: choosing your surrogate, signing the agreement and preparing the transfer.

That is why our surrogacy program with frozen embryo transfer is the lowest-priced version of the program. You can see every phase and every payment on the cost of surrogacy in Mexico City page.

It also tends to be the fastest. The surrogate is usually selected and the contract signed about 4 to 6 weeks after your first payment, and the embryos travel while that is happening.

How the shipping actually works

Embryos do not travel in a suitcase. They travel frozen, in a specialized container called a dry shipper, which keeps them in liquid nitrogen vapor for the entire trip.

For our patients, the transport is handled by Tuxkuku, a company that specializes in moving genetic material into Mexico. The embryos arrive at Procrea in Mexico City, where the transfer to your surrogate takes place.

Step 1: Get your embryo report

Ask your current clinic for a full report: how many embryos you have, their day and grade, how they were frozen and, if they were tested, the PGT-A results.

This is what Dr. Castillo Peláez reviews during your medical consultation to plan the transfer.

Step 2: Complete your clinic's release paperwork

Every clinic has its own release forms, consent forms and sometimes a release fee.

Start this early. In my experience, this is the step that most often slows people down, simply because the home clinic takes its time.

Step 3: The COFEPRIS import permit

Bringing human embryos into Mexico requires a permit from COFEPRIS, Mexico's federal health regulator.

Tuxkuku prepares and manages this permit for you. You do not have to deal with the Mexican authorities yourself.

Step 4: Shipping and arrival

Once the permit and the paperwork are ready, the dry shipper is sent to your clinic, the embryos are loaded, and they travel to Mexico City.

When they arrive, the lab confirms receipt and they are stored until your surrogate is ready for the transfer.

What does it cost?

I always want people to see the full picture, so here it is.

Shipping is never included in the program price. It depends on where your embryos are coming from. On our current price list, it goes from $90,000 MXN to $140,000 MXN depending on the country of origin, and it is paid before shipping.

The surrogacy program itself, with frozen embryo transfer, is listed on the surrogacy pricing page, phase by phase. You pay each phase as it begins, never the whole program upfront.

If a first transfer does not result in a pregnancy, an additional frozen embryo transfer is a separate, published fee. No new IVF cycle is needed as long as you still have embryos.

That is one more reason why the number of embryos you have matters. If you have one or two, we talk about it honestly during the consultation.

How many embryos should you send?

My honest advice: send all of them, or at least more than one.

Shipping is priced by country of origin for each shipment. Sending one embryo, then needing to ship again a few months later, means paying for shipping twice and losing time.

Your doctor will also look at the quality and testing of your embryos to estimate your chances. You can read more about this on our surrogacy success rates page.

The legal side of using your own embryos

Using your own embryos also helps with the legal part.

In most cases, at least one intended parent should have a genetic link to the baby. It keeps the parentage process in Mexico cleaner and usually makes citizenship much simpler back home.

The full process, from the notarized agreement to the birth certificate in your names, is explained on our surrogacy legal process page.

What I wish every family knew before shipping

Call your clinic first: Ask about their release process and fees before anything else.

Do not ship before your plan is confirmed: Your embryos should travel once your program is scheduled, not before.

Keep every document: Embryo reports, consents and permits are part of your file.

Ask about storage: Embryos that stay in Mexico after your transfer have a monthly storage fee.

If your embryos are waiting in a freezer somewhere and you have been told you need a surrogate, you are much closer than you think.

Book a free consultation and we will look at your embryo report together.