# Verification record — `gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport` 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-2703**), continuing Ghana's research thread from **GOV-2695** (the parent research issue), which scouted all 5 of Ghana's then-remaining open verticals in parallel following **GOV-2510**'s opening of Ghana as the registry's 41st jurisdiction (via National ID & Civic Documents). **GOV-2697** (Taxes) and **GOV-2698** (Visa) have since closed two of those five verticals; this issue is for the Passport vertical. ## Source examined - **Authority:** Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFA), Passport Office. - **Document:** "APPLICATION FOR A REPUBLIC OF GHANA PASSPORT", citing the Passport and Travel Certificate Decree (NLCD. 155, 1967). - **URL (directly retrieved, HTTP 200, no login):** - **File identity:** `sha256:e59193adeaf05847042dbd03928f1e7e9bec3b4cf333ee19c048c18e5bb73c9`, 248,106 bytes, `Content-Type: application/pdf`. Byte count and hash match the GOV-2703 issue's own citation exactly. - **Structure:** 4 pages. Page 1 carries a header strip (TIN, a paid-voucher-code blank, a name-summary blank), instructions/caution text, and a "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" block, followed by the start of the numbered items (1-3). Pages 2-4 continue items 4-30. - **Retrieved / reviewed:** 2026-07-13 - **Live workflow page also independently re-fetched:** (HTTP 200), which the issue cited as describing "the manual-form workflow." Its own text, stripped of markup, confirms verbatim: "Download a form... Pay for the processing of your application ('PAY PROCESSING FEE'). You will receive an SMS on the Mobile Phone number you entered... Write the Paid Voucher Code on your Manual Form. Submit the completed Manual Form to the PAC for further processing," followed by a list of 10 Passport Application Centers (PACs). ## Extraction method `pdfjs-dist` (v4, legacy build) `page.getAnnotations()` confirms **0 Widget annotations** across all 4 pages, and `page.getTextContent()` confirms a real, fully extractable text layer (338 / 187 / 168 / 223 text items on pages 1-4 respectively) — a flat print form, a different tier from both this registry's AcroForm specimens and its genuinely scanned specimens (e.g. `gh/gis`). With no interactive field metadata to read, each page's text items were grouped by y-coordinate (3pt tolerance) into visual lines and sorted by x-coordinate within each line, reproducing the form's printed reading order. Every numbered item (1-30) was read this way. A custom `NodeCanvasFactory` (backed by `node-canvas`, at 2.5x scale) was also used to render all 4 pages to PNG; while the specimen's font glyphs did not render in this environment (a `pdfjs-dist`/`node-canvas` standard-font path-generator incompatibility, not a content issue — the text layer itself already fully accounts for every printed word), the rendered comb-box and blank-line geometry was still visible and was used to (a) confirm no isolated, unlabelled box exists anywhere across all 4 pages that might indicate a photograph-affixing area, and (b) resolve the Item 7(a) Height layout (`___m ___cm`, two separate blanks) from the gaps between text tokens on that line. ## Field inventory 114 `fields[]` entries, referenced by item number. Selected groups: | Item(s) | Printed content | Schema field(s) | |---|---|---| | Header | TIN; TRANSACTION NO; NAME OF APPLICANT | `taxIdentificationNumber`, `paidVoucherCode`, `applicantFullNameSummary` | | 1 | Surname / First Name / Other Names | `surname`, `firstName`, `otherNames` | | 2-3 | Maiden Name(s); previous name if changed | `maidenName`, `previousName` | | 4 | Date of Birth; Gender | `dateOfBirth`, `gender` | | 5-6 | City/Town of Birth; Country of Birth | `cityOrTownOfBirth`, `countryOfBirth` | | 7 | Height (m/cm); Colour of eyes/hair; Visible peculiarities | `heightMeters`, `heightCentimeters`, `colourOfEyes`, `colourOfHair`, `visiblePeculiarities` | | 8-10 | Nationality; Marital Status; Profession/Previous Profession | `nationality`, `maritalStatus`, `profession`, `previousProfession` | | 11-13 | National ID / SSN / Voter's ID card numbers | `nationalIdCardNumber`, `socialSecurityNumber`, `votersIdCardNumber` | | 14-21 | Residence address, Digital Address Code, contact | `countryOfResidence` ... `email` (10 fields) | | 22 | Institution, address, attendance period | `institutionAttended`, `institutionAddress`, `institutionPeriodFrom`, `institutionPeriodTo` | | 23 | Evidence of citizenship: father / mother / one grandparent | 27 fields (9 each, `father*`/`mother*`/`grandParent*`) | | 24 | Dual citizenship declaration | `hasDualCitizenship`, `dualCitizenshipOtherCountry` | | 25 | Documents held (A-G); document being attached | 7 booleans + `attachingDocumentType`/`Number`/`DateOfIssue`/`PlaceOfIssue` | | 26 | Two guarantors | 14 fields (`guarantorA*`/`guarantorB*`) | | 27 | Declaration by applicant | `declarationFullName`, `firstTimeApplicant`, `previousPassportNumber`, `previousPassportStatus`, `declarationSignatureDate` | | 28 | Parent/legal guardian consent (under 18) | `guardianRelationshipToApplicant` ... `guardianSignatureDate` (5 fields) | | 29 | Translator for illiterate-in-English applicants | `translatorLanguage` ... `translatorSignatureDate` (5 fields) | | 30 | Witness | `witnessFullName` ... `witnessSignatureDate` (8 fields) | `documents[]` (4 entries): - `citizenshipAndIdentityEvidence` — one of the 7 document types listed in item 25 (A-G), matching the applicant's own `attachingDocumentType` selection, per instruction 1's "evidence of citizenship and... evidence of identity." - `missingPassportPoliceReport` — `requiredWhen previousPassportStatus equals "lost"`, per instruction 2: "Police Report and affidavit are to be attached for missing passports." - `passportProcessingFeePayment` — sourced from the live `mfa.gov.gh/index.php/passport/` page, not the PDF itself (see below). - `applicationDeclaration` — item 27's always-applicable "And that all above information is true and correct," quoted verbatim. The page-1 "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" block (Regional Office, vendor receipt-stamp area, Passport Office stamp, "Please enter application payment PIN") is excluded as staff/vendor-populated, consistent with this registry's established convention (cf. `gh/nia`'s excluded MRW Number/Registration Centre Number/Interviewer NID No. widgets). The pre-printed "SERIAL NO: 18/" blank is excluded as a form-batch identifier, not an applicant-supplied value. No raw signature/thumbprint capture field is modelled anywhere on the form, for the same reason its constituent Signature/Date blanks are split (only the Date half is modelled). ## Access notes and judgment calls 1. **`paidVoucherCode` (the printed "TRANSACTION NO:" blank) is interpreted using the live workflow page, not the PDF alone.** The specimen prints "TRANSACTION NO:" with no on-form explanation of what value belongs there. `mfa.gov.gh/index.php/passport/`'s own "HOW TO APPLY" steps make the intended content unambiguous: pay the processing fee online, receive an SMS with a "Paid Voucher Code," and "Write the Paid Voucher Code on your Manual Form" — there being no other blank on the specimen this instruction could refer to. Disclosed here rather than silently guessed at from the PDF alone. 2. **`maritalStatus` is modelled as free text, not an enum**, matching this registry's `gh/gis` precedent for the same jurisdiction: the specimen prints only a bare blank for item 9, with no enumerated options anywhere across all 4 pages (confirmed via the extracted text and a full render). 3. **Item 7(a) Height is modelled as two integer fields (`heightMeters`/`heightCentimeters`)**, reflecting the printed `___m ___cm` layout (two separate blanks, one before each unit literal), rather than a single decimal field — read directly from the x-coordinate gaps between the "Height", "m", and "cm" text tokens on that line. 4. **Item 23's evidence-of-citizenship block genuinely supports a `requiredWhen` gate**, unlike `gh/gis`'s ungated `maritalStatus` precedent: each relative's "Living? Yes/No" is a real printed boolean choice, so each `*LastKnownAddress` field ("If deceased provide last known address") is `requiredWhen` its own `*Living` field equals `false` — a genuine conditional-requiredness rule, not a disclosed-only convention, because this form actually provides the field to key off. 5. **Item 27's declaration is modelled around `firstTimeApplicant`**, the printed statement (a) verbatim ("that I have not previously held or applied for a passport of any description"), with `previousPassportNumber`/`previousPassportStatus` each `requiredWhen firstTimeApplicant equals false` — mirroring the form's own "Cancel if not applicable" mutual exclusivity between statements (a) and (b). 6. **Items 28 (parent/legal guardian consent, applicants under 18) and 29 (translator for applicants who cannot read or write English) are not `requiredWhen`-gated**, even though both are conditional in the real world. This specimen provides no dedicated boolean minor-status or literacy-status field to key off (unlike item 23's `*Living` fields), so gating would require inventing a field this form does not print — consistent with this registry's established practice of only gating conditionals on fields the source itself provides (cf. `gh/gis`'s ungated `maritalStatus`-conditional `spouseName`/`spouseNationality`). Each field's `description` documents the real-world condition instead. 7. **No photograph `documents[]` entry is modelled**, a deliberate departure from `gh/gis` (a different Ghanaian form). Neither the extracted text nor a full-page render of all 4 pages turns up any photograph-attachment instruction or unlabelled photo-affixing box anywhere on this specimen — disclosed as an absence rather than assumed by analogy to other passport forms in this registry. 8. **`passportProcessingFeePayment` (a `documents[]` entry) is sourced from the live `mfa.gov.gh/index.php/passport/` page, not the PDF.** The fee-payment step precedes and is external to the printed form (it produces the Paid Voucher Code written into `paidVoucherCode`), so there is no PDF `sourceRef` to cite for it; its `sourceRef` instead quotes the live page directly. No fee amount is asserted, since none is published on either the form or the workflow page. 9. **Scoping: this schema covers only the manual, paper-form pathway.** `passport.mfa.gov.gh` (an online portal referenced by the issue) is login-gated for appointment booking and was not screened as an alternative submission channel this cycle; the manual form itself (this schema's subject) is confirmed unauthenticated and unaffected by that gate. ## Test run (Phase 4) No live submission was attempted: Ghana's passport application is a printed, hand-completed form submitted in person at a Passport Application Center together with photographs, evidence of citizenship/identity, and guarantor/witness signatures — not a portal accepting programmatic submissions — and submitting fabricated identity data against a foreign government's passport-issuing process is not a safe or reversible action, the same reasoning already documented for this registry's other passport/immigration schemas (e.g. `gh/gis`, `rw/dgie`, `bd/dip`). 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 `gh/gis` and `rw/dgie`): 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 (a shared-`Condition`-grammar subset: `equals`/`notEquals`/`in`, `all`/`any`/ `not`). ``` $ node validate_instance.mjs registry/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/schema.json \ conformance/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/first-time-applicant-married-both-parents-living.json Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: PASS $ node validate_instance.mjs registry/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/schema.json \ conformance/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/previous-passport-lost-dual-citizenship-deceased-father.json Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: PASS ``` The second fixture exercises three conditionals at once: `firstTimeApplicant: false` (requiring `previousPassportNumber`/`previousPassportStatus: "lost"`, which in turn requires the `missingPassportPoliceReport` document), `hasDualCitizenship: true` (requiring `dualCitizenshipOtherCountry`), and `fatherLiving: false` (requiring `fatherLastKnownAddress`). **Mutation controls** — six negative fixtures, each targeting a distinct validation rule: ``` $ # mutation-control-missing-required-field.json: 'surname' (required: true) removed Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - (root) must have required property 'surname' 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: 'gender' set to 'Other' (not in enum) Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - /gender must be equal to one of the allowed values requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-maxlength-violation.json: 'surname' set to 60 characters (maxLength: 50) Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: FAIL - /surname must NOT have more than 50 characters requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: PASS OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-requiredwhen-violation.json: 'previousPassportNumber'/'previousPassportStatus' removed while firstTimeApplicant: false Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: FAIL - field 'previousPassportNumber' is required by requiredWhen but missing - field 'previousPassportStatus' is required by requiredWhen but missing OVERALL: FAIL $ # mutation-control-missing-required-document.json: 'applicationDeclaration' removed from documents[] Static (required/type/pattern/enum) validation: PASS requiredWhen/documents[] conditional validation: FAIL - document 'applicationDeclaration' 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/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/schema.json ok registry/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/schema.json 1/1 document(s) passed. $ node tools/validate-ajv.mjs registry/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/1.0.0/schema.json ok registry/gh/mfa/application-for-a-republic-of-ghana-passport/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 (406/406 passed) 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 4 of 6 verticals (National ID & Civic Documents, Taxes, Visa, Passport). DMV and Business Formation remain open backlog for future cycles.