If you barely speak the language, it's not easy. Unfortunately many countries have made immigration so hard, in an effort to combat it, that they've done the opposite - people immigrate illegally because it has a higher success rate than doing it legally.

If I apply for X, Y, and Z and I'm denied, I'm fucked. But if I just move... And then figure it out later... That might work better.

And that's how we got into this mess. A lot of this anti-immigration legislation actually increases the incentives for illegal immigration.