Thank you for your patience and for helping me without any incentive.
I'll try to summarize:
-My friend is a PR who came as a refugee, and is trying to bring his spouse and children over as part of the One-Year-Window application.
-As part of the application, they need to submit a imm5406e. That form, when downloaded from the IRCC website, includes a "Validate" button. The IRCC information all seems to indicate that forms with the validate function are required to have the barcodes on them (i.e., they require them to have been validated).
-However, the validate function doesn't work in the form provided by IRCC (which is how this thread started).
-Above, many fine people have indicated they simply filled it out and scanned it - no mention of any validation/barcodes. So I guess I'm wondering, do we really get to ignore that validation step?
My applicant CAN sign the form - we can send her a physical copy which she can sign and mail back - or we can send to her for a digital signature using Docu/Authentisign. However, I know she will not be able to fill out the entire form properly, online - there are some serious technology challenges for her (personal and environmental). So I guess I'm trying to figure out whether we need to do the representative option (and her husband can fill it all out here in Canada with a good computer and me to help with the tech) OR whether we can just do the print/sign/scan option that is discussed in this thread.