Your assumptions are partly correct.
My (now) wife was my gf at the time of our first application in January 2020. It was denied in February 2020, just before Covid descended on the planet. So, that time, even if approved, she probably would not have been allowed to come to Canada anyway.
Our second attempt was in early 2022. On that occasion, the Phils had just re-opened to tourists after a 2-year closure. Tourists were allowed in starting February 10 and I arrived there February 18. We had planned to get married in April 2022, which we did. PR processing times then stood at about 22 months. So, in March 2022, we again applied for TRV, telling of our pending marriage. By that time, the IRCC knew we were bf/gf, so we expected to be denied on that ground, but we thought that saying we were about to be married might help. Nope. Denied again in July 2022.
So, we were married in April 2022 and embarked on the tiresome sponsorship/PR application process, with its long waiting period. Getting our ducks in a row to file took time...things such as waiting for PSA marriage certificate, etc. My wife had been an OFW in the UAE and we ended up going there to chase a police clearance certificate. She also worked in Hong Kong and getting the HK PCC was less challenging.
We finally got her PR application filed in November 2022, one week after arriving back in the RP from Dubai. Processing then was showing at about 18 months. We received AOR in February 2023, I was approved as sponsor, and my wife had her medical exam in Manila in March and passed. So, we got to thinking that her PR application is now past its infancy and looks real, so maybe we have a chance for a TRV, given that it should be plain that in the fullness of time my wife would get her PR. Wrong-O! Denied in 2 days! By that time, I suppose, our file had been placed on auto-deny, with the IRCC poised to write to us saying "Just what part of NO do you not understand?....makolit ka, talaga!"
I am wholly unfamiliar with your circumstances and those of your bf, so I cannot say whether you have a fair chance to mount a renewed TRV application and succeed. I would not, however, feel optimistic. In your original TRV application, did you disclose that you are bf and gf? If that cat is out of the bag, the general opinion on this forum is that your chances are much diminished. You might just have to bite the bullet, get married, and apply for PR in order to have a peek at life in Canada. Probably no other way. I went to the Phils in November 2023 after my wife's PR was approved and we came to Canada one month later. Not what I had planned, arriving in winter. I offered my wife that we could stay in the PI until, say, March when her medical expired. She did not want to wait, afraid perhaps that the IRCC might change its mind.
We'll see how it goes. If, at any point, she has had enough of Canada, we'll go back. I lived in the Phils before and can happily do so again. It's really up to her where we end up living. Maybe we'll do part of each year in each country. I am open to anything. One should not marry a Filipina, assuming she will be content to live in your country. If one does not know that for sure, then one should be prepared to live there. Otherwise, don't get involved.
