For Paper Applicants waiting for AOR - I called into IRCC today just before 4 PM. On the phone the automated message mentioned that applications that have been received prior to Jan 14th 2023 are being processed. I still stayed on the call for the Agent and the Agent confirmed to me that they are processing applications received till Dec 7th 2022 and my application which was received on Jan 31st 2023 is still not in the system.
I was able to confirm that they have my right email address on file. So not a total waste. Hope it helps other folks looking at this thread more than it did to me