If you read about others' experiences, it varies from VO to VO, most likely due to each officer's own judgement. You see in this forum that some posters do get this request from the VO.Grizzlyman said:
In our case, this is exactly what we showed (already have new home in Canada plus some finances in Canada), minus the job offer actually. Honestly, what kind of employer would give you an open job offer with unclear timing to come on board. We did not get any further questions.
As for your friend, the best way to understand rationale is to order GCMS notes, which would likely have some comments entered by the officers. However, he would not know it until this plan is submitted, and how the VO will react. There may not be an indication in the notes at this time why the officer feels this is necessary. But it doesn't hurt to order it anyway.
As I said, this likely varies from officer to officer. Honestly, it could be this officer's thinking that a lot of immigrants do not really leave or only the sponsored spouse ends up staying and the husband does not go back. Once the officer asks for substantial proof, it means the applicant must do a lot more. The clearest proof would be cancellation of the Hukou. It cannot get more substantial than that.
