Moving eggs from Spain to the UK

[Moonflake]

Hi, I wonder if anyone experienced the same issue or can share some information.

I have my frozen eggs stored in IVI Valencia clinic. For personal reasons I would like to move them to the UK and have my treatment with Kings Fertility Clinic. I officially initiated the transfer in August 2022 and IVI was very fishy about the whole process. They told me upfront that it will take some months to transfer because they need authorisation for transfer to the UK from the Ministry of Health in Spain. Apparently this is due to the UK no longer being in the EU. I spoke to my transfer courier and they reassured me that typically the whole process takes about 2 months. I didn't have much choice anyway so went with it. 2 months later I checked with IVI about the progress and they told me that they only sent the request to the Ministry of Health mid September and in October received the request for more information, which they provided. I was asked to wait a little longer. So I did, for another 2 months. After hearing nothing form IVI I chased them again and they told me that the Ministry refused the transfer and I have to do the treatment in their clinic. I am completely shocked, in disbelief and frankly disguised. THis is MY eggs and I have a right to have a treatment in my home country. I was not given any reasons for refusal. Kings Fertility is a very reputable clinic with long standing history. SO my question is, what do I do now? How do I get my eggs from Spain? Did anyone here experienced the same issues? I am desperate because I have very limited time left to get pregnant. This situation is a nightmare. I could not find any information about the need to get permission for transfer, or any conditions on why the transfer from Spain is not permitted. I have a slight suspicion that the clinic deliberately screwed up the application, or simply lying to me about the whole "authorisation" thing, so they can keep me as a paying customer.

Hi @Moonflake. There are really strict laws on importing eggs, embryos or sperm from abroad to the UK, made much harder by Brexit. I suggest you look at the information from the HFEA here and maybe contact them for more information.

You also need to speak to King's about their policy on accepting your eggs from a Spanish clinic.

www.hfea.gov.uk/treatments/explore-all-treatments/importing-and-exporting-sperm-eggs-and-embryos/

C x

i moved eggs from a USA clinic to a UK one (after we moved internationally). the UK clinic arranged a courier (£1K) and all the paperwork (another £1k) but it was relatively stress-free.

Op, not the same but DH (French) was going to complete a type of stem cell transfer in France but his stem cells had already been collected in Uk and the paperwork was just crazy it made it near on impossible. Since brexit the import/export of biological matter is very complicated.

Oh op I’m so sorry that’s so stressful. I don’t know anything to help afraid but just sympathising

do they now have the 50 year storage lImit I’m Epsom now thigh so maybe not so time pressured??

Just to follow up on my first message. The reason that was stated on the refusal letter is that I do not have valid medical reasons to move my eggs for IVF in the UK. I’m completely lost here. Ivi Valencia is a commercial organisation, with whome I have a private contract to store my eggs. I’m a foreign customer, who decided to stop using their service for storing my eggs and move it to my home country. I never signed any agreements with them to do the actual IVF. Now they sent me to do some stupid chores collecting letters from my GP and the IVF doctor at Kings Fertility to prove that I have a valid medical condition. I dont even know what to write in those letters. What is valid medical condition to have ivf treatment in your home country? Otherwise they say that I’ll have to do it in Spain. It goes against any logic or common sense. UK clinic didn’t raise any concerns about importing eggs into the UK, it’s exporting out of Spain that causing all the problems.

@Carajillo thank you for your kind advice. Importing into the UK seems to be straight forward, Kings Fertility didn’t raise any concerns about importing from Spain. It’s Spanish authorities that are the problem. They do not allow me to take my eggs out of Spain into the UK, even though I’m British citizen.

The reason that was shared with me by IVi is that I don’t have valid medical reasons to do my treatment in the UK instead of Spain. My key reason is not medical. Spain does not allow women chose their donors. A nurse in the clinic will pick some random sperm and inseminate the woman with that. The idea makes me feel horrible, I want to have a say in who is going to be a father of my child, this Spanish way feels like rape to me. I know some woman don’t feel this way and I respect that, but for me it’s absolutely emotionally torturing.

UK allows selecting your own donor or importing the sperm from countries that have open donors. I was planning to select one from the US speembank, with photos, Med records and general background info.

I really don’t know what to do🤷‍♀️🥲 Do you know anything about Spanish laws in this area?

@whataboutya did your DH manage to transfer the material at the end? What paperwork did you have to show and how long did it take? It’s not exactly the same as my situation but there might be some guiding principles that I could use.

Sorry @Moonflake but I can't help you as he didn't go through with it in the end. He was persuaded not to by his doctors due to the nightmare paperwork and his treatment was pretty time sensitive.

It sounds like the clinic has got you over a barrel and it really doesn't sound fair ! I hope you get a good resolution and they stop holding your eggs hostage

Just popping in to gone massive sympathy but unfortunately no knowledgable help.

have you reviewed the terms and conditions you signed??

I was advised by a Spanish clinic that it would be very complicated to move embryos.
I wonder if your valid medical reason could be psychological rather than physical?
I think it's awful that they are putting up barriers to you moving your own genetic material. There are IVI clinics in the UK, I don't know if they would facilitate moving the eggs there, although I'm sure you probably wouldn't want to touch them with a barge pole now. They seem quite separate, IVI in the UK when we looked at them did not have all the techniques available in Spain, but you might not need those techniques.

Is there a compromise where the eggs are moved to another EU country with a different donor policy?

It doesn't sound like the clinics fault here but the authorities. It IS a different country after all where they view things differently. The UK is a bit easier about some stuff than other countries. I live in the Netherlands and surrogacy with other eggs is almost impossible here due to the rules and regulations. Also, no c section on maternal request.

I think that pp has a good suggestion: move the eggs within the EU to a country where you can choose your own sperm. However, some countries do have laws about the childs right to know who the sperm donor was.

@Moonflake Hi, I know this is old message, but anyway will try; as currently I have the same situation, want to move my oocytes from IVI Valensia to the UK. SO just wandering what was the solution in your case? Really appreciate, if you see this and can respond to. thanks

@NinoT86 After my transfer request was refused I requested IVI to share the refusal letter from ministry of Health and had it reviewed by a spanish speaking friend of mine. We've realised that all the regulations and laws that have been referenced in that letter as ground for the refusal were only relevant in situations when someone in moving DONOR eggs to another country, not your own eggs. If you are moving your own eggs in one-off transfer, there are exemptions. So IVI clearly submitted the wrong application. In addition they stalled the communication with me and completely missed the deadline for appeal so they had to submit another application from scratch. I threatened them with my lawyer and the application got processed ( and approved) in record time. Although after that they still took forever to process the rest of the documentation required by the receiving clinic in the UK. It made me wonder if they are doing all this on purpose, because the only option they offered when my application was initially refused is to do the treatment with them. I don't believe such established clinic could be so ignorant, i think they tried to retain me as a client by leaving me with no other options. I really hope your experience is going to be smoother than mine. I started this process almost a year ago and still waiting for my eggs. Knowing what I know now, I would steer clear from this clinic, I can't comment on the quality of the actual medical care but the admin and client support is horrendous. There are many good clinics in the UK now and I'd save myself a lot of time, nerves and money if I just went for one of them to start with.

@Moonflake Many thanks for replying! I even was not sure, if this page was still active :). and so sorry to hear about your experience. But as I understand you're almost there and it's possible to move your eggs, that's really helpful. Much appreciated your response! As I frozen my eggs in 2019 but now I have issues with my uterus, so might need to consider surrogacy which is not legal in Spain. Actually right now my doctor in IVI has responded and transferred me to international patients department. Do you have any specifics in law (such as specific clause) according to which they can't refuse the transportation to the UK. or can you suggest anything in particular I should ask them to do?

thanks again

So I have just been through the same nightmare! I am doing a fresh cycle in the UK and have 20 eggs frozen in Spain from a previous cycle - I wanted to move the frozen eggs to the UK to combine with my fresh batch and fertilise with donor sperm. I got so fed up waiting I went ahead with a new fresh cycle which I am in the middle of - I am due for egg collection on Sunday and as of today - received conformation that the authorities have approved their release!!! Im now on a race to get them shipped to the UK in time for my egg collection on Monday! Not sure they will make it but have a courier on stand by to fly tomorrow so fingers crossed!!! The absolute drama!!!

We sent the paperwork via our Spanish clinic in February 23 and only received confirmation from the Spanish Authorities today! The delays are all down to the Spanish Authorities, the clinic was so helpful trying to chase them up but the authorities were super slow. Its a painful process so allow 3 months but it is doable. I used a courier through my clinic who sorted it all out - for £3600 mind you but at least its done!!!

So good to hear a positive experience. Thus it’s possible to move from Spain to the UK, that’s importnat, although the cost is crazy 🙈. Do you know that the transportation is safe and oocytes can still be healthy to use for fertilization?

So I can confirm that today I did a fresh egg collection and got 24 eggs!!! I also was able to use my 20 frozen eggs from Spain, which arrived to the clinic yesterday!!! Out of the 20 frozen Spanish eggs, 15 thawed and have been inseminated with ICSI!!!! Now we wait!! Next update tomorrow but hoping, with 39 eggs in total and donor sperm this will be the round to get some usable embryos!!!

Yes the transportation it's a long process and I'm sure there are cheaper ways but so worth getting your UK clinic to sort the paper work and liase with the Spanish clinic and courier. They were all so helpful and amazing! And on the basis it was Thursday afternoon when we got Spanish Authority sign off, the courier was on a flight from Gatwick and in the Spanish clinic to collect the eggs by 10am on friday morning! It felt like a movie🤣🤣🤣 but we got there!!!!

@NinoT86 if you need any specific details happy to help. We used CT Shipper through my clinic CRGH and i also sent 4 chaser emails like a right stalker direct to the spanish authorities!!! Im sure this didnt help but felt i was at least trying!!!🤣🤣Xx

hey, Good luck to you! I’m in early stage, as not planning anything right now. Just wanted to move the oocytes from Spain to the UK as Spanish law does not allow surrogacy. I have a doctor appointment in London Women’s Clinic in early June and will ask them about the transportation service and then will decide. Thank you

Just to clarify, you moved your eggs from IVI Valencia or from another clinic im Spain?

Hey, what countries are you considering for surrogacy? is it possible to ship eggs from Spain to country with a surrogate? Or first fertilize them and then move forzen embryos? i would like to what you found out

Hi, in Europe surrogacy is allowed in the UK and in Georgia. Can be also Greece, but more complicated requirements. There are cases of moving eggs (in container) from Spain to the UK, not aware of moving embryos but should be the same procedure. Surrogacy is not allowed in Spain at all.

Hi @NinoT86 I moved my eggs from URE Gutenberg in Malaga. After all of the hassle not a single one of my frozen eggs made it to a day 5 blastocyst! Really bizarre as I paired it with a fresh cycle and got 11 blastocysts, 7 of which were PGT tested. No idea why my frozen eggs did so badly, suspect the freezing process my clinic un Spain used wasn't great? Its strange how 2 batches of eggs less than 6 months apart performed so differently but suspect I was just unlucky. Beyond grateful for my UK clinic and protocol though, as currently prepping for FET now!! Good luck with your surrogate journey and if of interest, there is an ivf support group formed on Instagram called POD - we have a WhatsApp group with loads of lovely ladies and monthly meet ups in London if you want to join x

Hi @Ppromfirstpregnancy , thanks for sharing your story. That’s very scare that after transportation none of them made it. But thankfully you did anyway, congratulations! I have 16 frozen eggs at age of 33 and now I’m 37, so for me it’s critical. I have all hopes of frozen material. I’m not planning surrogacy right now, as I consulted with Prof. Nick Macklon at London women’s clinic and he said I can try by my own, although I have a high risk of miscarriage. So I’m not sure should I consider another cycle of freezing eggs or not, as I’m already over 35. and I’m not planning to do IVF at least another 2 years. Maybe the fault was because of the transportation company? Can you share their name?
What is the exact account of Instagram? I tried POD but couldn’t find it.

Thanks a lot!