# Verification record — `us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765` 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 flow, records a mock-data test run of the field set, and states the current verification claim honestly. ## Current claim - **`status`:** `verified` - **`verification.method`:** `manual-source-review-v1` - **`verification.lastVerifiedAt`:** `2026-07-02` Both the form and the companion Instructions were fetched directly from the live `uscis.gov` source (HTTP 200, no access block on either) and cross-checked against each other; no unresolved discrepancy remains between the two sources reviewed. `status` is set to `verified` on this first authoring pass. ## Why this candidate was advanced now `us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765` was assigned as part of the approved federal passport/immigration authoring wave (GOV-664 plan §2, F1.2), alongside Department of State forms. Form I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) is a very-high-volume USCIS filing, online and paper, whose central complexity is the eligibility-category enumeration (Item Number 27), distinct in shape from the checkbox-driven `us/uscis/permanent-resident-card-replacement-i90` already published in this registry. ## Sources examined - **Document `(id, version)`:** `us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765` / `1.0.0` - **Spec version:** GovSchema `0.3.0` - **Authority:** U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) - **Primary source URL:** - **Official form id:** `Form I-765 (Edition 08/21/25)` - **Form PDF:** — fetched directly with a plain `curl` request; HTTP 200, no access block. Parsed with the `pdfjs-dist` npm package (per-page `getTextContent()`); all 7 pages extracted as clean, legible text and transcribed field-by-field. - **Instructions PDF:** — fetched directly the same way; HTTP 200, no access block. All 25 pages extracted as clean text. Used specifically for (a) the "Who May File Form I-765" eligibility-category enumeration, which the form itself does not print, and (b) the "Specific Instructions" section (pages 18-20), which restates every Part 2 item number (8 through 31) in linear order and was used to resolve the non-linear column order the form PDF's own text extraction produced. - **Retrieved / reviewed:** 2026-07-02 - **Reviewer:** GovSchema Engineering (initial authoring source-review) ## Not a time-versioned (edition) form Form I-765 is filed per triggering employment-authorization event (initial grant, renewal, or replacement/correction), not "for" a recurring period — applying the GSP-0005 §2 coexistence test, there is no scenario where two editions of the I-765 data model need to coexist for the same applicant. This document is therefore authored at the plain (non-edition) registry path, `registry/us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765/1.0.0/`. A future form revision (the form itself is dated per edition, e.g. "08/21/25") that changes the field set ships as a new `version`, not an edition. ## Scope decisions The form has 6 numbered parts; this document models Parts 1-5 in full, with the following exclusions and modeling choices: - **Part 6 (Additional Information)** is a genuinely open-ended continuation space for overflow answers from any other part (identified by page/part/item number cross-references), out of scope for this flat field set — the same treatment given to equivalent overflow sections in other published documents (e.g. `us/uscis/permanent-resident-card-replacement-i90` Part 8). - **The unnumbered attorney/G-28 identification block** on page 1 ("Select this box if Form G-28 is attached", Attorney State Bar Number, Attorney or Accredited Representative USCIS Online Account Number) carries no Part/Item number on the form and functions as USCIS-internal representative bookkeeping, not a numbered applicant-facing item — out of scope, the same treatment I-90 gives its unnumbered "Action Block/Fee Stamp". - **`eligibilityCategory` (Item Number 27) enum values are the literal USCIS category codes** (e.g. `"(a)(3)"`, `"(c)(3)(A)"`, `"(c)(17)(iii)"`) rather than invented snake_case labels. This is a deliberate fidelity choice: the Instructions' own worked examples instruct the applicant to "type or print '(a)(3)'" in the box, so the literal code **is** the value a filer writes and the value USCIS itself uses in cross-references throughout the Instructions (e.g. "the EAD category for a person already granted asylum is category (a)(5)"). A human-readable label for every code is provided in the field's `description` as a compact key, since GovSchema v0.3 has no labelled-enum construct (GSP-0003 remains a proposal, not adopted into the core spec). - **53 distinct eligibility-category codes** were transcribed from the Instructions' "Who May File Form I-765" section (pages 2-16): 19 `(a)` codes (`(a)(2)` through `(a)(20)`; there is no `(a)(1)`) and 34 `(c)` codes (`(c)(1)` through `(c)(40)`, non-contiguous — e.g. `(c)(13)`, `(c)(15)`, `(c)(21)`, `(c)(23)`, `(c)(27)`-`(c)(30)`, `(c)(32)`, `(c)(34)`, `(c)(38)`-`(c)(39)` do not appear in the current Instructions and are omitted). Where the Instructions describe multiple filing scenarios that share one literal code (e.g. `(c)(8)` covers pre-1995 filers, post-1995 filers, and ABC Settlement Agreement filers; `(c)(9)` covers ordinary adjustment applicants, National Interest Waiver physician renewals, and T/U adjustment; `(c)(14)` covers general deferred action and A-3/G-5 civil-action deferred action), those scenarios collapse to a single enum value, since the applicant writes the same code regardless of scenario. - **Other Names Used (Items 2.a-4.c)** is modeled as three flat, always-optional name-triplet slots (`otherName1*`/`otherName2*`/`otherName3*`), matching the form's own three fixed instances — not a GSP-0009 repeating-structure gap, since the source itself provides exactly three static slots rather than an open-ended repeating list. - **Item Numbers 28-31 (sub-fields keyed to a specific eligibility category)** are modeled with `requiredWhen` conditions against `eligibilityCategory` (GSP-0013 §2) rather than prose-only notes, since GovSchema v0.3 (unlike the v0.2 baseline `us/uscis/permanent-resident-card-replacement-i90` was authored under) has a conditional-requiredness mechanism. Likewise `(c)(35)`/`(c)(36)` share one `requiredWhen` condition via the `in` operator, and the mutually exclusive `applicantCanReadEnglish`/`usedInterpreter` boxes are encoded as an `exclusivityGroups` entry (GSP-0013 §5) rather than a prose note. - **U.S.-only mailing/physical addresses.** Unlike `permanent-resident-card-replacement-i90`, Form I-765's own instructions state "You must have a United States address to file this application," so `mailingAddress*`/`physicalAddress*` model only U.S. address components (no foreign province/postal-code/country variants); the interpreter and preparer address blocks, by contrast, do include the foreign-address variant fields, matching the form's own layout (their address blocks show Province/Postal Code/Country lines the applicant's own address block does not). - **Constraint patterns** (phone E.164, SSN, A-Number digit count, USCIS receipt-number format `[A-Z]{3}[0-9]{10}` for the I-140/I-129 cross-reference fields) are reasonable encodings consistent with USCIS's published receipt number format, not citations of a published Form I-765-specific validation rule. - **`placeOfBirthStateOrProvince`** is modeled as always-optional since not every country of birth has an equivalent subdivision; the form provides the field but does not state it is conditionally required. ## What was confirmed against the source - **Full section-by-section field set (Parts 1-5).** Reason for applying (including the item-number reuse quirk between the name fields and the reason checkboxes, both numbered 1.a-1.c), other names used (three slots), U.S. mailing and physical addresses, A-Number/USCIS Online Account Number, sex, marital status, prior-filing history, SSN, citizenship (two country slots), place/date of birth, full travel-and-status history (I-94, passport/ travel document, last arrival, current/last-arrival immigration status, SEVIS number), the eligibility-category field and every one of its 53 values, the four eligibility-category-specific sub-field groups (STEM OPT degree/employer/E-Verify ID; H-4 spouse's I-129 receipt; (c)(8) arrest/ conviction question; (c)(35)/(c)(36) I-140 receipt and arrest/conviction question), the applicant's statement/contact/certification/signature block (including the ABC Settlement Agreement checkbox), and the optional interpreter and preparer sections including each role's full mailing-address block (items 3.a-3.h) and the preparer's attorney/accredited-representative branch with its Form G-28 cross-reference — all transcribed field-by-field from the decoded PDF text of both the form and its Instructions. - **Item-number ordering (Items 8-31).** Cross-checked against the Instructions' "Specific Instructions" section, which lists every item number in linear order — this fully resolved the form PDF's own non-linear text-extraction column order, unlike the residual height/weight item-number ambiguity left open in `permanent-resident-card-replacement-i90` v1.0.0. - **Eligibility-category completeness.** Every code appearing anywhere in the Instructions' "Who May File Form I-765" section (a 15-page enumeration spanning Asylee/Refugee, Nationality, Foreign Students, Diplomatic/ International Organization Dependents, Employment-Based Nonimmigrant, Family-Based Nonimmigrant, Adjustment of Status, and "Other" category groups) was extracted and cross-checked twice: once via a raw-text regex sweep for the `(a)(N)`/`(c)(N)` pattern, and once by reading the full 25-page Instructions text section by section to confirm each code's title and grouping. - **Process identity.** Confirmed `Form I-765` is the correct, current (Edition 08/21/25) USCIS form for requesting an Employment Authorization Document, distinct from status-specific petitions (e.g. Form I-140, I-360, I-485, I-914, I-918) that some eligibility categories reference as prerequisite or companion filings but that remain out of scope here. ## Mock-data test run Per the issue's phase-4 instruction to test-run the schema with valid mock data, two representative applications were authored and checked field-by-field against every `type`/`required`/`requiredWhen`/`validation` constraint in `schema.json` (string length, regex pattern, enum membership, date format, boolean type, and the `requiredWhen`/`exclusivityGroups` conditional-logic constructs) using a one-off Node script (`node:fs` + a hand-rolled per-field and per-condition evaluator, not committed to the repo): ```json { "applicantFamilyName": "Okafor", "applicantGivenName": "Ngozi", "reasonForApplying": "initial_permission_to_accept_employment", "mailingAddressLine1": "1400 Independence Avenue SW", "mailingAddressCity": "Washington", "mailingAddressState": "DC", "mailingAddressZipCode": "20024", "physicalAddressSameAsMailing": true, "sex": "female", "maritalStatus": "single", "previouslyFiledForEmploymentAuthorization": false, "citizenshipCountry1": "Nigeria", "placeOfBirthCity": "Lagos", "countryOfBirth": "Nigeria", "dateOfBirth": "1998-04-12", "passportNumber": "A12345678", "passportOrTravelDocumentIssuingCountry": "Nigeria", "passportOrTravelDocumentExpirationDate": "2029-01-01", "dateOfLastArrival": "2025-08-15", "placeOfLastArrival": "Dulles International Airport, VA", "immigrationStatusAtLastArrival": "F-1 student", "currentImmigrationStatusOrCategory": "F-1 student", "sevisNumber": "N0012345678", "eligibilityCategory": "(c)(3)(B)", "applicantCanReadEnglish": true, "usedInterpreter": false, "usedPreparer": false, "applicantDaytimePhoneNumber": "+12025550142", "applicantEmail": "ngozi.okafor@example.com", "applicantSignatureDate": "2026-08-01" } ``` This models Ngozi Okafor, an F-1 student requesting initial post-completion OPT employment authorization (`(c)(3)(B)`), completing the form herself (no interpreter or preparer), with a physical address identical to her mailing address. Result: ``` PASS — mock I-765 application satisfies schema field-level constraints. ``` A second, negative-control scenario was run to confirm the conditional-logic harness is not vacuous: a `(c)(3)(C)` (24-month STEM OPT extension) applicant with the `stemOpt*` sub-fields (Item Numbers 28.a-28.c) deliberately omitted. The harness correctly flagged all three as required: ``` Expected missing (STEM OPT sub-fields): [ 'stemOptDegreeLevelAndMajor', 'stemOptEmployerNameInEVerify', 'stemOptEmployerEVerifyCompanyId' ] ``` Both registry validators were run against the schema document itself (not the mock data) and pass: ``` $ node tools/validate.mjs registry/us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765/1.0.0/schema.json ok registry/us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765/1.0.0/schema.json $ cd tools && node validate-ajv.mjs ../registry/us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765/1.0.0/schema.json ok registry/us/uscis/employment-authorization-i765/1.0.0/schema.json [v0.3] ``` ## Re-verification Per the practice's **Cadence**, `nextReviewBy` is set to **2027-01-02** (6 months). Re-check the source on or before that date, on any `source.url` change, or when USCIS publishes a new Form I-765 or Instructions edition (both currently dated "08/21/25") — in particular, re-check the eligibility-category enumeration, which is amended more frequently than the form's other sections as USCIS adds or retires categories by rulemaking.