@Kalandar --
Overall: if you have a significant amount of evidence of your residency and presence, and the calculation of 733 days in Canada between May 2016 and April 30, 2021 is accurate, and you likewise have evidence regarding residency and presence in Canada since July 1, 2021, so that you now have > 1000 days credit for presence between November 17, 2017 and November 17, 2022 . . . That should resolve IRCC's concerns.
But it could still take awhile to get a new PR card. And I am not certain.
First, it is highly unlikely you will get a PR card, either a 5-year or a 1-year card, at the interview, and given other reports about production issues, perhaps not for quite awhile. If you travel abroad you will probably need to rely on getting a PR Travel Document to return to Canada.
Secondly, I cannot guess why, in particular, IRCC has concerns about your admissibility, your RO compliance, at this stage. So I cannot guess how serious those concerns are.
It is very possible that your appearance at the interview and presentation of information will readily, almost easily, totally satisfy whatever concerns have led to this. And you will be approved for a five year card. In fact, that would be my best guess as to what is likely . . . except, based on the facts you describe, I would have guessed that outcome, card approved and delivered, before now, without having to attend a Residency Determination examination.
As for the difference between a five year and one year card, and when the latter might be issued rather than a five year card, that is specified in the regulations, Section 54 in the IRPR (Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations), which you can see here:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/page-8.html#h-686316 The regulation which requires the application to be made "
in Canada" is Section 56(2)(a) can be seen there as well.
You mentioned "Until this summer the requirement to be "in" Canada when making a PR card application was in large part unenforceable ", does that mean the issue might not be my sending the application from abroad . . ..
Applying from abroad was probably what triggered, or a big factor in what triggered, IRCC having issues with your case. There is no indication that is what is problematic now except to the extent it may influence perceptions about your credibility.
What triggers non-routine processing, or increased levels of scrutiny, are often not the primary focus of the non-routine processing or increased scrutiny that then takes place. The application from abroad, particularly in conjunction with
cutting-it-so-close to the RO, almost certainly is what triggered the initial referral for non-routine processing (speculating some, but it appears your application was in Secondary Review for a year or so before it was referred to the local office for a Residency Determination).
Based on what you have indicated about the communication from IRCC, it looks like this is specifically about RO compliance. BUT you say your April 30, 2021 application was made with 733 days credit, so was made when you were in RO compliance. So IRCC should have approved the application and issued a five year card . . . UNLESS it has reason to question whether you were actually IN Canada 733 days during that time.
And this is still what would ordinarily be expected, even though following the fifth year anniversary of your landing, in May 2021, you were in breach of the RO by a little (due to being outside Canada and losing credit for the days in the summer of 2016 as they fell outside the relevant five years . . . something you and I actually discussed in this forum in the summer of 2021).
But considering your return in July 2021 and presence here since, that really should not be the problem.
So, as I said above, it is very possible that your appearance at the interview and presentation of information will readily, almost easily, totally satisfy whatever concerns have led to this. And you will be approved for a five year card. Which, however, it will still take awhile to actually get.
I am not certain of that (no guarantees). A lot depends on the accuracy of your information.
I previously mentioned the possibility that at some point IRCC already prepared a 44(1) Report . . . which technically it could have done during the period of time you were in breach of the RO following the fifth year anniversary of your landing (until you had been back in Canada long enough after July 1, 2021 to get back into RO compliance). But we do not see that sort of overly strict
gotcha-enforcement by IRCC in any other case . . . and even if that is what has happened (noting this does not seem likely), even if that happened, your evidence documenting presence during the first five years and your return and presence since July 2021 should easily tip the scales toward a positive Residency Determination . . . and even if not, yes, just the impact of Covid in 2020 up to July 2021 should readily be enough for H&C relief.