Similar situation, my wife's 16-year-old daughter is in our home country but was included in the MPNP paper-based application, which has been processing for a year now (AORMarch 2020). I had requested for her a travel authorization and student visa but refused both. An agent at the border told us that she will not be able to come (she holds a visitor visa) until they finish processing our application and come to a decision. If she attempts to come to Canada even after Covid restrictions get lifted up, there is a change that she might send back because she does not comply with the "ties to home country rule" anymore. We have not been able to see her for a year by now. This is just ridiculous. On top of that off, I am going through this blog and found out that our application might take longer to be processed. It is just discouraging!
i called ircc twise they said my application is on hold until my wife come back to canada. they also said in some cases they do process application if dependent are outland