Embassy

Scheduling your embassy appointment

Once you have your baby's Mexican birth certificate, you can schedule an appointment at the US embassy to get an emergency passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad to get back home. For updated information, form requirements, and new procedures, we would recommend you find information directly from the US embassy’s website. We emailed the embassy directly for our inquiries and to get a phone number to schedule an appointment. The email we used was AskMeridaACS@state.gov. We were lucky and only had to wait two weeks to get an appointment, but others that we’ve talked to had to wait up to three to four weeks. Be sure to be straightforward and honest with them (that it is a surrogacy) but also say that it is an emergency request to get home.

Surrogacy chechlist

When you make an appointment, the embassy will email you a checklist of what forms / documents/ etc... you need to have ready for the appointment. For reference, the below downloadable file is what we were provided. Before you go to Mexico for the birth of your baby, it is crucial that you begin to prepare these documents, as they take a long time to gather and you are required to bring originals AND copies of each document.

We compiled the documents and created two separate binders - one kept in my backpack at all times while in Mexico (and attached to an Apple Airtag) while the other was kept in our luggage at our rental locked in our baggage. Each binder contained necessary documents to fulfill the requirements as needed. When preparing this, we would recommend to have a binder with plastic document sleeves that each contain an original document and two copies in the same sleeve. When you are to give them the documents, they will need the original and copy together (but not stapled).

As you see, you will need a lot of documents! We brought tax return documents and utility bills each for five years worth of time, identity documents like our social security cards, marriage certificate, birth certificates, education transcripts and much more all in these binders. We would recommend that you get two copies of your birth certificate and marriage certificate to bring with you to Mexico (just in case something happens to one copy - you will have another to get the baby's passport with). The embassy's website has more information on what exact documents you will need. You can ask them questions via email and they got back to us very promptly each time.

Checklist CRBA-Surrogacy (pdf)

Download

GETTING TO AND STAYING in MERIDA, MEXICO

Because you will not be able to make the embassy appointment until after the birth, you will not be able to prepare arrangements to Merida before you get to Mexico.

We were originally worried about vehicle transportation to Merida, around a four hour drive from Cancun. Keep in mind you will have the baby and the surrogate with you for this trip (we actually brought our surrogate's family as well - it happened to be a holiday). Thankfully, the staff at Miracle Surrogacy were able to arrange a nice van to get us to Merida safely. We paid in cash on pick-up, I believe for around $400 USD.

We booked a night at the Fiesta Americana Merida hotel and got a separate suites for us and our surrogate (and her family). We left Cancun around 11 am, and arrived at the hotel right on check-in time. It is important that you leave for Merida the day before your embassy appointment because they typically make the appointment in the morning (our appointment was at 8 am). There is a lower level mini-mall in the hotel that connects to a Chili’s (yes, the chain restaurant we all know and love). It was convenient to stay in the hotel area and not have to stray far to find food (plus when else will you get to say that you ate at a Chili’s in Mexico).

Proximity to Embassy

This hotel is perfect because it's under a five minute walk to the embassy.

forms you will need to complete

Form DS11 (you can find it on the embassy’s website) is the form for the US passport. We were instructed to fill this form out with the biological birth father and the Mexican surrogate as the parents (as it has to match the Mexican birth certificate). For this form, you will need a printed passport photo of your baby, which is very difficult to produce (we used an app to erase background).

Form DS2029 is the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA). This form is filled out with the biological father and his spouse, and does not name nor mention the surrogate at all. You will have to get a prepaid FedEx envelope for this form (the embassy will give you instructions – we purchased this in Cancun) that can only be shipped in Mexico. Have it addressed to Miracle Surrogacy and they can for

tHE APPOINTMENT AND Finishing the exit process

We had to wait some time in a line before getting into the embassy for our appointment. Please note that they have strict security measures and you will have to turn off your cell phone and have them store it in a cubby in the entrance area. Our surrogate brought her purse, and they made her return to the hotel and leave it there. We would suggest to not bring any bags except for a small baby bag and a stroller.

The inside is very much like a DMV visit. They will take you to a counter where they ask for your completed forms, and binder full of documents (one by one). After they took the documents, we waited for around an hour and a half and then they called us to a window for a quick little interview and to pledge a saying before approving our son for a US passport.

Note that the embassy has the right to require a DNA test that you must purchase through them and reschedule an appointment. We did not have to do this (seems to be when there's little to no documentation).

The passport was to be printed same day, but pick-up time was at 4 pm (perhaps they only print once per day). We were planning on leaving earlier in the day, so we had to have our transport van back to Cancun wait for us (they were extremely nice about it – we gave them an extra tip). Luckily, the hotel is so close to the embassy we just walked back and stayed in the lobby café until pickup time, grabbed the passport, and headed back to Cancun!

At that point, you are free to leave the country with your baby! We booked plane tickets home while waiting to pick up the passport and promptly left two days later. To be extra safe, we had the surrogate sign a hand-written letter (written in Spanish and English) saying that she authorizes the baby to travel to the US on such date. The condo we stayed at was very nice and actually reimbursed us for the excess time we had reserved but did not stay.

Final tip – get to the airport early. Because you did not enter the country with your baby, you do not have a stamped customs (visa) paper for the baby. A person at the check in booth for Frontier directed my husband to an office to grab a form while I waited at the desk with our baby and baggage. My husband had no problem getting the form, just say that the baby was born in Mexico and did not get a paper coming in. After that, we were headed home after a long journey!

We had no issues with US customs upon re-entry. The CRBA will be mailed to you in a few weeks/months time.

Leaving Chili's the night before our embassy appointment.