A 16-year-old girl has been unable to find work as she has been told legally she does not exist.

Jade Jacobs-Brook has spent most of her life in Harlow, Essex, but was born while her British parents were on holiday in Alicante, Spain.

Because her birth was registered abroad and Jade returned home without a birth certificate, she has been unable to prove her identity.

The teenager told the BBC this has left her rejected by potential employers.

Jade said she felt like she'd done something wrong when she was turned down for summer jobs.

"I saw these other people getting their contracts and then there's me and I was really upset," she said.

'Limbo situation'

Jade's parents registered her birth in Alicante, rather than at the British Consulate and were allowed to fly their daughter home without a birth certificate.

Since then they have been unable to obtain a birth certificate or passport for their daughter.

Linda Jacobs said: "Everybody says 'well surely you must be able to do this' and 'why don't you try this?', and we've tried everything we can.

"I'm positive there's somebody out there who could help us, that might know of a way around this."

Bill Rammell, MP for Harlow, said: "They are caught in this limbo situation.

"I have been making strenuous representations and will be again taking up the case on their behalf to both the Foreign Office and the Home Office and I'm sure we can find a way forward.

"I actually think the responsibility lies more with the Spanish government to help resolve this issue."

Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, KCMG PC (born 4 March 1946), is an international businessman, philanthropist and politician. He holds dual British and Belizean nationality, and is a Belonger of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Ennobled as a life peer in 2000, he sits in the House of Lords on the Conservative benches. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2009 ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed 37th with an estimated fortune of £1.1 billion.[1] On 1 March 2010, after 10 years of holding his tax status as private, he revealed that he did not pay tax on his overseas earnings in the UK.[2] He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.