# Verification record — `gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana` v1.0.0 This file is the **source-review record** for this document version, per the [`manual-source-review-v1`](../../../../../practices/manual-source-review-v1.md) practice. It documents the provenance of the published fields and states the current verification claim honestly. ## Current claim - **`status`:** `draft` - **`verification.method`:** `manual-source-review-v1` - **`verification.lastVerifiedAt`:** `2026-07-13` This is a `GovSchema Standard Research` cycle (**GOV-2698**), continuing Ghana's research thread from **GOV-2695** (the parent research issue), which scouted all 5 of Ghana's remaining open verticals in parallel following **GOV-2510**'s opening of Ghana as the registry's 41st jurisdiction (via National ID & Civic Documents). ## Why this candidate Ghana stood at 1 of 6 verticals (National ID & Civic Documents) entering this cycle. GOV-2695's own research pass found the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS)'s forms library at `gis.gov.gh/gis-forms/` — an unauthenticated HTML index — linking directly to a downloadable "Application Form for Grant of a Visa/Permit for Return to Ghana" PDF. This cycle authors the schema and independently re-verifies the cited source rather than trusting the issue's citation at face value. ## Source examined - **Authority:** Ghana Immigration Service (GIS). - **Document:** "APPLICATION FORM FOR GRANT OF A VISA/PERMIT FOR RETURN TO GHANA" - **URL (directly retrieved, HTTP 200, no login):** - **File identity:** `sha256:14bdb332f24b1fd172db3b851fa369b2235d9ba9710f58cbbc545b5f9fdc470b`, 1,500,822 bytes, `Content-Type: application/pdf`, `Last-Modified: Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:12:54 GMT`. Byte count and hash match the GOV-2698 issue's own citation exactly. - **Structure:** 2 pages. Page 1 carries the 14 numbered items plus an "ATTACHMENTS" note; page 2 is a "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" block. - **Retrieved / reviewed:** 2026-07-13 ## Extraction method `pdfjs-dist` (v4, legacy build) `page.getAnnotations()` confirms **0 `Widget` annotations** on both pages, and `page.getTextContent()` confirms **0 extractable text items** on both pages — this is a genuinely **scanned** specimen (a raster image embedded in the PDF, not a text or form layer), a different tier from this registry's flat-but-text-extractable specimens (e.g. `ng/nis`, `rw/dgie`). With no text layer to extract, the page was rendered directly: a custom `NodeCanvasFactory` (backed by `node-canvas`) was passed to `page.render()` at 2.5x scale, producing a 1487×2105px PNG per page, which was then read visually. Every numbered item was cross-checked with a targeted crop (e.g. items 1–2, items 3–5, items 6–12, item 13's row specifically) to rule out any small print missed at full-page zoom. No hidden or overlapping text was found; the faint mirrored content visible on page 2 is print bleed-through from page 1's ink, not a second layer of genuine page-2 content. ## Field inventory 33 `fields[]` entries, referenced by item number: | Item | Printed content | Schema field(s) | |---|---|---| | 1 | Name (in full) Mr./Mrs./Miss | `title`, `fullName` | | 2 | Previous Name (if any) | `previousName` | | 3(a) | Nationality | `nationality` | | 3(b) | Date & Place of Birth | `dateOfBirth`, `placeOfBirth` | | 4(a) | Passport No. | `passportNumber` | | 4(b) | Date & Place of Issue | `passportIssueDate`, `passportPlaceOfIssue` | | 4(c) | Date of Expiry | `passportExpiryDate` | | 5 (header) | Address in Ghana (in full) | `addressInGhana` | | 5(a) | Postal (Office/Business), Tel | `postalAddressGhana`, `postalTelephoneGhana` | | 5(b) | Residential (H/No.), Tel | `residentialAddressGhana`, `residentialTelephoneGhana` | | 6 | Address Overseas, Tel | `overseasAddress`, `overseasTelephone` | | 7 | Educational Qualifications, Occupation | `educationalQualifications`, `occupation` | | 8(a) | How long resident in Ghana | `residencyDurationGhana` | | 8(b) | Date of first arrival | `dateOfFirstArrival` | | 8(c) | Date of latest arrival | `dateOfLatestArrival` | | 9 | Destination abroad (give full address) | `destinationAbroad` | | 10 | Date of departure | `dateOfDeparture` | | 11 | Object of journey and proposed length of stay abroad | `objectOfJourneyAndProposedStay` | | 12 | Reasons for wishing to return to Ghana (to be supported by documentary evidence) | `reasonsForReturn` (+ `reasonsForReturnEvidence` document) | | 13 | Marital Status | `maritalStatus` | | 14 | Name of Spouse, Nationality | `spouseName`, `spouseNationality` | | (declaration) | Date, beside the signature/thumbprint line | `signatureDate` | `documents[]` (3 entries): - `applicantPhotographs` — the empty, uncaptioned photo-affixing box printed on page 1's top-right, read together with the "ATTACHMENTS: 1. TWO (2) CURRENT PASSPORT SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS" note as the same requirement. - `reasonsForReturnEvidence` — item 12's own printed instruction "(TO BE SUPPORTED BY DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE)". - `applicationDeclaration` — the solemn-declaration statement printed immediately above the signature/thumbprint line, quoted verbatim. The page-2 "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" block (Fee paid, Receipt No., Signature of Cashier, Stamp) is excluded as staff-populated, consistent with this registry's established convention (cf. `gh/nia`'s excluded MRW Number/Registration Centre Number/Interviewer NID No. widgets). No raw signature/thumbprint capture field is modelled, for the same reason. ## Access notes and judgment calls 1. **Item 5 carries its own header-level blank before its lettered sub-items, unlike items 3 and 4.** Items 3 ("(a) Nationality... (b) Date & Place of Birth...") and 4 ("(a) Passport No... (b)... (c)...") go straight from the item number into lettered parts with no preceding header blank. Item 5 uniquely prints "ADDRESS IN GHANA (IN FULL)..." with its own dotted blank *before* "(a) POSTAL..." and "(b) RESIDENTIAL...". This schema treats that header blank as a genuine, separate general-address field (`addressInGhana`), rather than silently discarding it as decorative — it is a real structural difference from items 3/4, not an extraction artifact. 2. **`maritalStatus` is modelled as free text, not an enum.** A targeted crop of item 13's row (`crop-marital.png` during this session) confirms the specimen prints only a bare dotted blank — "13. MARITAL STATUS........................." — with no enumerated options anywhere on either page. This is a deliberate departure from this registry's other `maritalStatus` fields (e.g. `ng/nis`, `ng/nimc`), which are modelled as enums because their own specimen (or a corroborating edition) prints explicit options; no such corroborating edition was found for this form. 3. **`spouseName`/`spouseNationality` (item 14) are not `requiredWhen`-gated on `maritalStatus`.** Since `maritalStatus` is free text with no reliable machine match against "married", gating would require inventing a pattern match this specimen's own text does not support. The conditional relationship is documented in each field's `description` only, matching this registry's established free-text-gated-conditional practice (cf. `ng/nis`'s `employmentEmployerName`). 4. **`postalAddressGhana`/`postalTelephoneGhana` (item 5(a)) are optional; `residentialAddressGhana`/`residentialTelephoneGhana` (item 5(b)) are required.** An applicant without an office or business has nothing to declare in 5(a), matching this registry's `officeAddress`-is-optional / `residentialAddress`-is-required convention (cf. `ng/nis`). 5. **`overseasAddress`/`overseasTelephone` (item 6) and `destinationAbroad` (item 9) are modelled as two distinct required fields**, even though both concern an address abroad. The specimen prints them as two separate numbered items with no cross-reference between them, and this schema does not assume they are always identical (an applicant may maintain an overseas residence distinct from a specific trip's destination) — faithfully kept separate per this standard's source-of-truth-fidelity principle. 6. **Items 9, 11, and 12 each print a multi-line ruled blank** (one continuation line for item 9, one for item 11, two for item 12) with no separate lettering or numbering. Each is modelled as a single free-text field with a `maxLength` sized to the visible ruled space, not as separate fields — consistent with how a single free-text answer spanning multiple ruled lines is modelled elsewhere in this registry. 7. **`applicantPhotographs` reconciles two printed cues to the same requirement**: the empty, uncaptioned box on page 1 (which a completed specimen would show a photo affixed to) and the page-1 "ATTACHMENTS" note requiring two passport-size photographs. Neither is modelled as a second, independent document, since the specimen gives no indication these are two different photographs beyond the same two-photograph requirement. 8. **Scoping: this is GIS's Re-Entry Visa/Permit pathway, not the first-time tourist e-Visa.** A fresh check of `gis.gov.gh/visas/` confirms this specimen corresponds to the site's listed "Re-Entry Visa" service (obtained before departure so a Ghana resident may re-enter on return), distinct from the first-time tourist e-Visa, which remains a login-gated online application portal with no downloadable blank specimen found at any tier this cycle. This scoping is disclosed here and in `schema.json`'s `description` rather than silently conflating the two pathways, matching this registry's `rw/dgie` and `uy/mrree` visa-scoping precedent. ## Test run (Phase 4) No live submission was attempted: Ghana's Re-Entry Visa/Permit channel is a printed, hand-completed application submitted in person or via a Ghanaian diplomatic mission together with photographs and supporting documentary evidence, not a portal accepting programmatic submissions, and submitting fabricated identity data against a foreign government's immigration process is not a safe or reversible action — the same reasoning already documented for this registry's other consular/immigration schemas (e.g. `rw/dgie/visa-application`, `ng/nis/application-for-visa-entry-permit`). Instead, two independent worked mock records were built from this document's own field inventory and checked with a purpose-written script (`validate_instance.mjs`, mirroring the approach used by `rw/dgie` and `ng/nis`): compiles `schema.json`'s `fields[]` into a JSON Schema document checked with `ajv` (+`ajv-formats` for `date`), plus a from-scratch evaluator for `requiredWhen`/`documents[]` conditional requiredness. ``` $ node validate_instance.mjs registry/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/schema.json \ conformance/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/married-applicant-with-spouse.json Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: PASS $ node validate_instance.mjs registry/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/schema.json \ conformance/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/single-applicant-no-office-address.json Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: PASS ``` **Mutation controls** — five negative fixtures, each targeting a distinct validation rule: ``` $ # mutation-control-missing-required-field.json: 'passportNumber' (required: true) removed Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - (root) must have required property 'passportNumber' requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-invalid-date-format.json: 'dateOfBirth' set to 'not-a-date' Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - /dateOfBirth must match format "date" requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-invalid-enum-value.json: 'title' set to 'dr' (not in enum) Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - /title must be equal to one of the allowed values requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-maxlength-violation.json: 'fullName' set to 250 characters (maxLength: 200) Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - /fullName must NOT have more than 200 characters requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-missing-required-document.json: 'applicantPhotographs' removed from documents[] Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: FAIL - document 'applicantPhotographs' is required but not marked provided OVERALL: FAIL ``` Both meta-schema validators were run against the finished document and pass clean: ``` $ node tools/validate.mjs registry/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/schema.json ok registry/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/schema.json 1/1 document(s) passed. $ node tools/validate-ajv.mjs registry/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/schema.json ok registry/gh/gis/application-for-grant-of-visa-and-permit-for-return-to-ghana/1.0.0/schema.json [v0.3] 1/1 document(s) validated against the meta-schema (ajv 2020-12). ``` A full-registry run of both validators was also run after adding this document, and `tools/govschema-client/registry-index.json` was regenerated via `npm run build-index` (in `tools/govschema-client/`, after `npm ci --include=dev` since a plain `npm ci` under a local `NODE_ENV=production` skips `ajv`'s devDependency install) to include this document's entry. ## Ghana's other open verticals Ghana now stands at 2 of 6 verticals (National ID & Civic Documents, Visa). GOV-2695's parallel scouting pass found candidates in Passport, DMV, Business Formation, and Taxes as open backlog for future cycles.