I’ve read several comments of people who got approved after applying with their AOR. I’m personally going to give it a trial. There’s no harm in trying bearing in mind it’s 50:50. Good luck.
As per IRCC, “your application is still undergoing completeness check and is yet to be assigned to an officer”. So no, until you get an AOR, your application is pending.
Same here. It’s been 4 months. No AOR. Having an AOR gives some for of hope that your application is being processed. Until then, our application is yet to be opened or checked.