3 parts lack of planning, 1 part sheer stupidity. Add a dash of frustration and shake well.
See, the last time I entered Canada I was fully planning on going home and neither marriage nor immigration were in prospect - in fact, my boyfriend was supposed to move with me to Croatia as soon as he graduated and my house renovation back home was finished so we wouldn't have to rent. There is no immigration process and as my common-law partner he would've been able to work right away, without even needing a work permit. (I know, right?!?

)
But somewhere along the way things began to drag (house reno got sloooow, I quit my job to focus on that last damn semester of law school, my boyfriend's father got sick so he didn't want to go too far from him, blah blah blah) and our living together somehow got indefinitely postponed. And then somehow during my last visit to Canada... well, things were going great, and we were stupidly happy together, and he proposed and asked me to just stay and we'll figure something out

We essentially got married and started the whole process knowing nothing it (and having almost none of the paperwork and supporting evidence on hand, but that's a whole other story), so playing by ear and CIC's instructions got us on the inland route. But as soon as I get my OWP I'll instantly forget all the difficulties
