I have a question regarding the CFO requirements.
A little background. My partner had been in Canada since November on a TRV and we returned to Phils together in April, me for 2 week vacation. We immediately applied for another TRV, hoping to get a multiple-entry so that we could return to Canada together, take vacations and have the freedom to travel, while waiting for the PR process. We have applied as M-F conjugal partners (long story) so were prepared for a very long wait.
We were granted a new TRV on April 21 and my partner received her passport back with a single-entry TRV last Tuesday. We booked a flight for her to return to Canada the following Monday, exactly a week after I left her, having to be back at work. Two days later, on Thursday, we received an e-mail with CoPR and passport request for our PR. What a surprise!!! Essentially is says she has to confirm that she is able to land in Canada before July 31 - no problem there. In the attachment it says that if she is already in Canada, she can send her passport to Ottawa instead of Manila, provided she will be in Canada for at least 90 days - no problem there (her return ticket is already booked for October).
Our plan is for my partner to fly to Canada on the TRV as planned on May 4. We will then send her passport to Ottawa, not Manila. We understand she will have the CoPR/Visa stamped in Ottawa and returned to us in Toronto. She will then have to leave the country as a visitor and return as a permanent resident. I have read here that some just "flagpole" at the US border, not even entering the US - drive out of Canada and do a U-turn returning to the Canada border. Clearly this would be preferable than flying back to Manila just to meet the CFO requirement.
If she is able to "flagpole", she will have left the Phils as a tourist. I am sure we will both be travel back to the Phils (we have a house there) within the next year, however we were not really planning to fly back before July 31 unless it was necessary for the PR.
My question: Has anyone had experience with leaving the Phils as a tourist, becoming a PR of Canada, without registering with the CFO first?
If all works out we would prefer not to have to return to Phils just to land in Canada before July 31. I am then guessing that she would have to meet the CFO requirement the next time she returns to the Phils and leaves again, probably completing the GCP as well.