About visitor record... I just recently got mine after staying 5.5 months in Canada as a visitor with PR in process (file is currently in Buffalo following sponsorship approval a few months back), going to Fort Erie Peace Bridge entry (circled around before getting to the bridge to the U.S. heading outward on QEW), for 12 additional months, expiring mid September 2012.
One small paragraph background as to why I went to Peace Bridge. I did this after initially intending to file inland for a visitor extension but I lacked the proof of a passport stamp and at the border they would not give such proof unless I knew to ask at my first entry (they told me they don't stamp U.S. passports that often, and indeed mine was not stamped), the lack of such evidence would have been a denial of visitor extension lacking one of the fundamental pieces required for that application which is a passport stamp or equivalent showing official date of entry. So I talked to an officer on the phone, told him my situation, asked what he would recommend. He told me if I presented him with everything I told him I had, he would easily give me a 12 month visitor record and told me to reference his name and the date/time I talked to him. True enough, when I referenced him when inside at the border, he happened to be working (made sure to go around the same time I called previously), was brought inside, and suggested to a coworker who was doing the paper/computer work for a 12 month visitor record.
Now, as for the visitor record, I was informed that for a visitor record people are looked at with more scrutiny, at least, to get the visitor record itself, because, as I was told by two officers in the building, it allows re-entry with few to no questions asked after I mentioned the issue of if I would have to go through this same process again if I were to fly to Georgia to visit my dying great grandmother that I haven't seen in two decades nearly, when re-entering Canada. I was also informed that they don't hand out visitor records to people, say, visiting their boyfriends/girlfriends/friends, or just for leisure. They outright said we were given a visitor record so readily because we had a PR in process, I followed the rules, and showed proof of support to stay for that length, though they visibly looked at the sponsorship approval letter pretty much exclusively and not the guarantor's letter+receipts of money transfers from parents abroad, and my wife was there with me, visibly 9 months pregnant, to which they repeatedly pointed out that they aren't in the business of breaking up families.
Dealing with them was far easier and far more reasonable than my own border patrol in the U.S. In contrast, helping a friend out with his sponsoring of a foreign wife to the U.S., if someone intends to sponsor a spouse or fiance(e) to the U.S., and their version of an "outland" PR app that would allow permanent re-entry, while the app is in process, if the sponsored person (i.e. applicant) tries to enter with it in process it's almost always an instant denial as they (DHS/DOS) think of it as an intent to live in the states. Completely different logic between neighbouring countries.
