Holly Bishop
Guest Reporter
A British woman discovered that she doesn’t “legally exist” thanks to a paperwork mishap from when she was born.
Caitlin Walton, 26, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, said she feels as if she’s been “wiped off the face off the earth” after she was told that there is no legal proof that she was born in the UK.
The 26-year-old is classed as a “white British immigrant”, and is unable to get a national insurance number, passport or driving licence as she has no legal documentation.
Her mother gave birth to her without any assistance in 1997, and despite the legal requirement that a birth be recorded within 42 days, it was never registered.
Walton only found out about her lack of records when she turned 18 and moved out, asking her mother for a birth certificate that she could not supply.
She has said that ever since, she has been in a bureaucratic limbo due to the fact that she “does not exist”.
Applying for a job was impossible she said, so with nowhere else to turn, she moved in with her aunt.
Walton tried to obtain a passport in 2019, but was told by the Passport Office: “Before a registration could be authorised we would need to be satisfied, by means of independent documentary evidence, of the precise date and place of your birth.
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“There must also be a qualified person who can attend a register office to give information for the registration of the birth and to sign the register.
“As it would appear that the above conditions cannot be fulfilled, the late registration of the birth cannot be authorised.”
She only managed to get a bank account when her aunt and cousin pleaded with Halifax to let her open an account.
The 26-year-old 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 has reached out to the civic centre for answers but there was no record of her being born at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. And even a nationwide hospital birth record search proved futile.
“I feel totally invisible – I couldn’t understand why my mother would hide me for those first years, but it seems like she did,” she said.
The Home Office has said they cannot help her as she is an “immigrant”, and when turning to a lawyer for help, she was told the fees would be £2,000.
“It feels like I’ve been wiped from the face of the earth.”
Both of her parents have died, and she is no longer in contact with her two siblings, who she believes could also be not registered.
She worries what will happen when her aunt dies and she is left alone, and questioned: “How can I have lived in this country my whole life but be invisible?”
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 license or to prove the right to work in the UK.”
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Caitlin Walton, 26, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, said she feels as if she’s been “wiped off the face off the earth” after she was told that there is no legal proof that she was born in the UK.
The 26-year-old is classed as a “white British immigrant”, and is unable to get a national insurance number, passport or driving licence as she has no legal documentation.
Her mother gave birth to her without any assistance in 1997, and despite the legal requirement that a birth be recorded within 42 days, it was never registered.
Walton only found out about her lack of records when she turned 18 and moved out, asking her mother for a birth certificate that she could not supply.
She has said that ever since, she has been in a bureaucratic limbo due to the fact that she “does not exist”.
Applying for a job was impossible she said, so with nowhere else to turn, she moved in with her aunt.
Walton tried to obtain a passport in 2019, but was told by the Passport Office: “Before a registration could be authorised we would need to be satisfied, by means of independent documentary evidence, of the precise date and place of your birth.
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“There must also be a qualified person who can attend a register office to give information for the registration of the birth and to sign the register.
“As it would appear that the above conditions cannot be fulfilled, the late registration of the birth cannot be authorised.”
She only managed to get a bank account when her aunt and cousin pleaded with Halifax to let her open an account.
The 26-year-old 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 has reached out to the civic centre for answers but there was no record of her being born at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. And even a nationwide hospital birth record search proved futile.
“I feel totally invisible – I couldn’t understand why my mother would hide me for those first years, but it seems like she did,” she said.
The Home Office has said they cannot help her as she is an “immigrant”, and when turning to a lawyer for help, she was told the fees would be £2,000.
“It feels like I’ve been wiped from the face of the earth.”
Both of her parents have died, and she is no longer in contact with her two siblings, who she believes could also be not registered.
She worries what will happen when her aunt dies and she is left alone, and questioned: “How can I have lived in this country my whole life but be invisible?”
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 license or to prove the right to work in the UK.”
Find Out More...