Shipping Embryos or Eggs Internationally: How It Works and What to Ask

Why people ship embryos and eggs

• Treatment abroad: doing a retrieval in one country, often for cost reasons, then transferring at home, or the reverse.
• Moving countries with embryos or eggs in storage.
• Surrogacy in another country.
• Switching clinics after a disappointing experience, or because the original clinic closed.
• Donor eggs or embryos from a bank or program in another country.

Each situation comes with different paperwork, especially when donors are involved. The physical shipping process is much the same. (If you're only moving between two clinics in the same country, start with our guide to moving frozen embryos or eggs to another clinic.)

How the shipment physically works

Frozen embryos and eggs must stay at cryogenic temperatures the entire time. Specialist couriers use dry shippers: insulated flasks with a porous absorbent lining that soaks up liquid nitrogen. The straws or devices holding your embryos sit in a canister surrounded by very cold nitrogen vapor.

Guidance from Weill Cornell Medicine's environmental health and safety office describes how these shippers are prepared. When a dry shipper is correctly charged and all free liquid nitrogen is poured off, it contains no free liquid. In that state it isn't regulated as hazardous material or dangerous goods, as long as it doesn't build pressure and can't release liquid in any orientation. The air waybill must carry the statement "Not restricted, as per Special Provision A152." This is why specialist couriers can move them by air relatively smoothly.

How long a shipper holds temperature depends on its model and how it was charged. Follow the manufacturer's specifications. Ask the courier what the rated hold time is and how it compares with the planned journey, including possible customs delays. Ask too whether the shipper carries a temperature data logger, so the receiving lab can confirm conditions throughout the trip.

The paperwork that actually matters

If anyone else has legal rights to the embryos, such as a former partner or a donor with conditions attached, sort that out before you book shipping. A dispute at the release stage can stall everything. If you're building a family with donor gametes or as an LGBTQ+ couple, our family-building options guide covers how ownership and consent usually work.

US import rules for reproductive tissue

In the US, eggs, sperm, and embryos are regulated by the FDA as human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products (HCT/Ps). Two parts of the federal rules matter for international shipments:

Import notification and holding (21 CFR 1271.420)

Normally, when an HCT/P is offered for import, the importer of record must notify FDA, and the product must be held intact until FDA decides whether to admit it. The regulation exempts reproductive HCT/Ps that are regulated solely under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act and donated by a sexually intimate partner of the recipient for reproductive use. In plain terms, a couple's own embryos coming back to the US for their own use generally fall into this exemption. Your receiving clinic and courier should still confirm how your shipment will be handled.

Donor eligibility (21 CFR 1271.90)

Donor screening and testing requirements generally don't apply to cells and tissue for your own (autologous) use, or to reproductive tissue from a sexually intimate partner. They do apply to donor eggs, donor sperm, and donated embryos, with specific labeling and some narrow exceptions. Material that wasn't fully screened must carry warning labels. If donors are involved anywhere in your situation, expect more documentation and get the receiving US clinic involved early.

FDA's import guidance also makes a broader point: the agency "does not recognize regulatory approvals from other countries." A foreign lab's accreditation doesn't replace US requirements.

Lab compatibility: the step people forget

Shipping is only half the job. The receiving lab has to be able to warm (thaw) your embryos or eggs safely using a method compatible with how they were frozen. Before shipping, have the two embryology labs talk directly about:

• Freezing method (most modern labs use vitrification) and the kits or media used
• Device type: open or closed carriers, straws, and labeling format
• How many embryos or eggs are on each device. If two are frozen together, both get warmed together.
• Embryo stage, grading system, and any biopsy or PGT reports, with the identifiers matched to each device

A good receiving lab will ask for this before agreeing to accept. If it doesn't, ask why.

A realistic step-by-step

1. Confirm the receiving clinic and its acceptance requirements, including any country-specific approvals.
2. Lab-to-lab review of freezing methods, devices, and records.
3. Consents and releases from all relevant parties, notarized if required.
4. Choose a courier experienced in international reproductive shipments that both labs accept.
5. Permits and customs paperwork prepared by the courier and clinics.
6. Schedule both ends: the sending lab to load the shipper, and the receiving lab staffed to receive and transfer it into storage. Avoid public holidays in either country.
7. Receipt and confirmation: the receiving lab confirms the shipper's condition, checks the data logger, and confirms the inventory matches.

Only then should you plan a transfer cycle around those embryos. Don't start medications for a transfer until the embryos have arrived and been checked in.

What can go wrong, and how to reduce it

• Customs or paperwork delays: choose a shipper whose hold time comfortably exceeds the planned journey, and have every document ready before pickup.
• Inventory mismatches: ask for a written inventory with device IDs, and have both labs confirm it.
• Warming incompatibility: settled in advance by lab-to-lab review.
• Liability gaps: read who is responsible at each step and what any insurance actually covers. Insurance usually pays money and can't replace embryos, so prevention matters more.
• Storage fees at both ends: confirm when billing stops at the sending clinic and starts at the receiving one.

If you're considering treatment in Colombia

Many people who consider IVF abroad plan to freeze embryos there and transfer either there or at home. If Colombia is on your list, colombianivf.com is a resource for researching IVF there. Before you commit to any clinic abroad, ask:

• Have you shipped embryos to, or received them from, my home country before? How often?
• Which couriers do you work with?
• What consents and documents will you need from me, and can they be signed remotely?
• What freezing method and devices do you use, so my home clinic can confirm compatibility?
• What are your storage fees, and what happens if I stop paying them?

Also plan your follow-up. If you transfer abroad and fly home, you'll need local beta hCG draws and an early scan arranged in advance.

Questions for the clinics and the courier

For the sending and receiving clinics

• What exactly do you need from me, and from each other, before you'll release or accept?
• Have your embryologists confirmed that the freezing and warming methods are compatible?
• Are there any legal or regulatory approvals required in either country?
• Who is my single point of contact for the shipment?

For the courier

• How many international reproductive shipments have you handled on this route?
• What's the shipper's rated hold time, and the longest delay you plan for?
• Is there a temperature data logger, and who gets the data?
• Who is liable at each stage, and what does your insurance cover?
• What happens if customs holds the shipment?

Frequently asked questions

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