Hi Daniel.
My Advise to you is you should do what ever it takes to execute your personal development plans and create your own chances for better opportunities. I wish you all the success.
regarding your inquiries, I prefer if you can go through the
PMI audit FAQ
, it will clear most of your inquiries.
and I want to specifically highlight two points:
1- PMI can furnish an audit candidate with a general letter outlining the purpose of the audit to any verifying manager or supervisor.
2- Candidates can have a colleague, peer, client or sponsor who has intimate knowledge of the project verify.
3- a colleague from the project can verify, or a current manager or supervisor who has direct knowledge of the project can verify.