Yeah ... I would say this is more about relationship logistic issues than politics.
The issue in our case isn't so much "being" here, but getting INto the country. I've spoken with immigration lawyers and, of course, thousands of non-citizens come and go all the time with no problem. The issue seems to be that if someone arrives and encounters an agent who either got up on the wrong side of bed, or hasn't reached their quota yet, things could get troublesome. One lawyer told me in no uncertain terms that under current circumstances, if we Do plan for him to come here, NOT to say anything about getting married, because then they will NOT let him in. (From her experience.) And of course, if they grab someone for no good reason, they refuse to admit error, and instead conjure up a criminal record out of nothing.
That said, you are 100% CORRECT about the bureaucracy in many destinations, ... especially some EU countries! The paperwork and glacially slow process of getting even the simplest, most basic paperwork processed is both mind-blowing and infuriating. (Like, you can't open a bank account without a solid local address ... and you can't buy property or sign a long-term lease without a bank account!) Which is why we haven't done that yet ... and won't, unless/until we feel we need to certify/verify our relationship for other reasons and have no other choice.