The Supreme Court of India found some middle ground in the case of twins born to an Indian Surrogate on behalf of German Intended Parents:

The Supreme Court Friday asked the central government to provide necessary travel documents to twins born to a surrogate Indian mother to help the babies acquire a visa and travel to Germany along with their biological parents. A bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly asked the Indian authorities to provide the travel documents for the German couple’s twins within 48 hours after their biological parents seek these.

The bench also asked the German couple, Jan Balaaz and his wife, to approach their country’s embassy in New Delhi with these travel documents and apply for the visa for the children on this basis. It asked them to come back Dec 15 in case the visa is refused. The order came on a government lawsuit contesting a Gujarat High Court ruling that the central government should issue passports to the twins. The government opposed the high court ruling, contending that giving a passport to the babies would mean declaring them as Indian citizens. It also contended that the babies born to surrogate Indian mothers but alien biological fathers are not entitled to the country’s passport, which only the Indian citizens can be given.

The bench said it would decide the issue if a baby born to surrogate Indian mother but alien biological father is entitled to Indian passport after Dec 15, if the need arises.

This ruling will permit the couple to secure visas, which presumably will allow them to return home to Germany. However, this will not bring any closure to the German parents as visas are not passports and generally only allow the holder to remain in the country for a fixed period of time. Also left unresolved is whether German officials will attempt to block the couple from returning home with their twins, given their own ruling earlier this week. Lastly, these twins remain citizens of no country which, undoubtedly, will present significant issues moving forward.