Excuse the OT and the less-than-ladylike language, but I'm hoping some of the YLF ladies who've ever moved from one country to another will back me up on this sentiment

My boyfriend and I are starting the process of immigrating to Canada; me sponsoring him as my common-law partner so that he can become a permanent resident. I say "starting" but really we've been talking about it, and dragging our heels, for months now. All the forms, documentation and background checks are enough to make your head spin- so long and confusing. Part of the problem is that the same bunch of forms are used for loads of different instances (sponsoring your spouse, an adopted child, a conjugal partner) so it's up to us to figure out which forms/questions apply to us, and which don't.

I'm generally pretty smart about these things, but half an hour with these forms makes my head feel like it's full of molasses! I swear they're not even written in English, but rather "bureaucratic speak", designed to make everything 100x more confusing than it needs to be. Every time it seems we're getting a little closer, some other issue comes up and makes us feel right back at square one.

Today's kick in the teeth is the police clearance forms. I've just discovered that Andrew will need two, one from the UK (standard- can do it locally and has a 10-day processing time) and one from Canada, as he lived there for more than six months during his gap year(s). For that one, he has to have fingerprints taken here, which are then sent to Canada, where it will take 120 DAYS to process them! And that's not even the whole application- just one lousy form out of many!

Honestly, it cannot have been nearly this difficult when my grandparents immigrated 60 years ago. I feel like giving up