I totally agree with you, my husband same sentiment as you as a british citizen and paying taxes for morethan 30 years in this country choose to marry a foreigner and go through a lot of stressed just to get me (financially and emotionally) Then after 2 years applying for ILR going thru loads of papers again plus the fee and now my final destination applying for naturalization with a huge fee and docs to submit again and for sure getting a passport is another story to tell
People with work permit to process their families dependant visa no need much proof to show (work permit visa, employer certificate and accomodation) for 15 days guaranteed their families are here already and they don't pay as much as British citizen of this country in getting their wife/children.
I am saying this just for comparison based on the filipinos in our area who manage to get their families with not much hassle like those 12 filipino linemen
who just arrived here a year ago most of their families were here now in UK (most of them got 3 or 4 children) for just 15 days to process. I am not againts with them just to compare what me and some people been thru just to get here in UK.