The visa itself wasn't the hard part. The hard part was everything happening around it — the house, the school transition, the job search, the emotional weight of an international move landing all at once.

My partner is British. Before I ever considered moving to England, I visited at least a dozen times. Not weekend trips — real visits. I stayed with family. I walked the streets in every season. I sat in the pubs and the parks and the supermarket queues. I thought I understood what life here would look like. I was completely wrong.