Woman who ‘doesn’t legally exist’ can’t work or get a passport despite being born in UK

A British woman has spoken out about her 'constant trauma' after discovering she was never actually registered at birth.

Although Caitlin Walton was born in Gateshead in 1997, she's classed as an immigrant by the government because there's no legal proof she was born in the UK.

The 26-year-old said her mum gave birth to her at home without any assistance meaning that Caitlin was never given a birth certificate, a fact she only discovered when she moved out.

Ever since then her lack of a birth certificate has meant she's been unable to get a national insurance number, driving licence or passport, all of which means she can't get a job.

The 26-year-old tried applying for a passport in 2019 but was told she'd need to provide documents giving the date and place of her birth, which she didn't have.

Caitlin Walton says she was born in 1997 in Gateshead, but her birth was never registered. (SWNS)

While there is a process for a late registration of birth, Caitlin said she couldn't use it as the Passport Office told her that she'd need 'a qualified person who can attend a register office to give information for the registration of the birth and to sign the register'.

'If I died, I would be untraceable'

Since she no longer speaks to her mum that's something of a problem. She was only able to get a bank account with the support of her aunt and cousin who have to provide for her since she can't prove she has the right to work in the UK.

She said: "I just want to be able to work and live a normal life but at the moment if I died, I would be untraceable.

"The constant trauma of basically not really existing has been horrible."

She added that 'everything started to unravel' when she left home at the age of 18 and ended up having to stay with her aunt as she 'had no way of proving my existence'.

In her attempts to prove she legally exists she spent six hours searching the records at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead but could find no record of her having been born there.

With no legal evidence that she was born in the UK, Caitlin has struggled to be recognised as a British citizen. (SWNS)

'I feel totally invisible'

Searching the birth records of hospitals around the country also turned up nothing, and there were no documents that proved she exists until she reached the age of three.

“I feel totally invisible - I couldn’t understand why my mother would hide me for those first years, but it seems like she did," Caitlin said, adding that 'it feels like I've been wiped from the face of the earth'.

The Home Office told her it can't help her because there are not records of her being a British citizen, while the General Register Office and Gateshead Council is not sure how to help her case.

She is no longer in contact with her parents or her two siblings who she also believes were not registered at birth, and said 'I don't even know where I'd go' if something happened to her aunt.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "A birth certificate is a key piece of evidence needed to apply for a British passport. However, someone being unable to register their birth will not prevent them from successfully applying.

"Once a passport is issued it can be used as a form of identity, such as to obtain a driving licence or to prove the right to work in the UK."