A gay British couple remains stuck in Cyprus with newborn twins due to ongoing delays in processing their passports. Damian, 33, and Pasan Fernando, 36, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, spent £85,000 to hire a woman to carry their children and deliver twins but have been unable to return home for the past eight weeks.  

The couple, who had initially sought a surrogate in the UK, turned to the World Center of Baby in Cyprus for assistance. The UK requires that surrogates reach out to a couple rather than the other way around. Pasan’s sperm was used to fertilize a donor's eggs chosen to resemble Damian’s features. The couple was matched with a surrogate and learned in April 2024 that she was pregnant with twins. They stayed out of the woman's pregnancy, just coming in for the birth.

River and Liko were born on January 3, 2025, but despite submitting passport applications on January 13, the couple says the process has been repeatedly delayed due to administrative errors, reports Daily Record. “This passport issue is incredibly frustrating. It's silly human errors. It's so avoidable. The children aren't able to meet their grandparents,” Damian said.

Damian and Pasan began exploring surrogacy options six years ago. Under UK law, surrogates must initiate contact with intended parents. “We joined a few organizations and Facebook groups. We did lots of socials,” Damian said.  

Pasan added: “We had an online journal so a surrogate can see what we're like.” After years of searching without success, the couple saved enough money to consider international surrogacy and contacted the World Center of Baby, in Cyprus, in late 2023, where there were far less restrictions to gain access to a woman, her womb, and children.

They flew out in December 2023 to deposit their sperm and chose an egg donor in January 2024. Three viable embryos were created, and a surrogate was selected in March. By April, they learned they were expecting twins. The children are the product of one man's sperm, a woman's eggs, and were gestated in a second woman's womb, meaning that the child will never have any idea who their real mother is, even if they were to track down either woman.

Following the twins’ birth, the couple quickly sought to return to the UK. Pasan has a year of leave, while Damian was granted time off for the first half-term of the school year. They had legal representation and submitted all required documents for the twins’ passports on January 13. They received confirmation on January 21, but on January 31, the passport office requested new applications due to a processing error. The couple resubmitted their applications the same day but encountered further setbacks, including lost documents and miscommunications between different caseworkers.  

Emails from the passport office indicated that certain documents were missing, but the couple said they had already been submitted under the initial applications. Misplaced paperwork between the applications for each twin has led to further delays. It is the paperwork issue that is causing the men stress after all of the financial arrangements to obtain the children had been completed.

The couple has moved between three different Airbnbs, incurring additional costs on top of the £70,000 already spent on the surrogacy process and £15,000 on legal fees and travel, reports The Mirror.

“We had been warned to be prepared for incompetence. We’re just hoping something can change. We don’t want this to happen to future parents,” Damian said.  

The couple has been advised there is “no timeline for this complicated process” and remains uncertain when they will be able to bring their twins home. If delays continue, Damian may be forced to take unpaid leave. “There is a huge financial element,” he added.