the UK just made it prohibitively expensive to bring spouses and dependents along.
and then the anxiety around the "hostile environment" for immigrants meant that lawyers were an absolute must adding even more to the bill.
Of course you could do it without one, and a friend did - she was without her passport for 18 months while they decided her permanent residency.
I paid 3x to get mine on the day with help from my lawyers.
Moved back to Canada 2 years ago.