When my husband returned, he flew in. Yes he did tell them he was here to see me and yes we told them we were going to be applying for PR. The reason why they had such a big problem with it was because he and I had already been married for almost a year and still had not applied for PR. So that either made them suspicious or annoyed that we weren't getting it done. But the reason we took so long was because of waiting for medicals, background checks, and then we decided it might be faster to do it outland, so that is why he went back to the U.S but when he left, we realized we couldn't be away from eachother for that long. So we ended up doing inland application. Anyway, long story short, that's why they were suspicious of us. In the end, they let him through, thankfully. They told him he only had a month, but he needed to apply for an extension. We did just that and got our application together and sent it in and everything was fine! We just got our PR a couple days ago after 11 months! 
I think yes, your husband could tell them he is applying outland, I don't see the harm in it, I would think, if anything, it would show them he is planning on returning to the U.S. If you guys ended up wanting to do inland, for us, it was painless to get a visitor visa extension. There was no hassle, we applied and they approved it in about 2 months or so. On the visitor visa extension application, you can choose how long you want to extend your stay. That is what we did and it was approved, not sure if they always allow people to choose. We also said the reason for wanting to extend was so that we could apply for PR. Hope that helps, let me know if you need anymore clarity!
I think yes, your husband could tell them he is applying outland, I don't see the harm in it, I would think, if anything, it would show them he is planning on returning to the U.S. If you guys ended up wanting to do inland, for us, it was painless to get a visitor visa extension. There was no hassle, we applied and they approved it in about 2 months or so. On the visitor visa extension application, you can choose how long you want to extend your stay. That is what we did and it was approved, not sure if they always allow people to choose. We also said the reason for wanting to extend was so that we could apply for PR. Hope that helps, let me know if you need anymore clarity!