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My wife was recently accepted for her spouse visa and the information contained in the forum was priceless, so first of all I would like to thank all the contributors here for the help, in many cases this help truly is life changing.

In this question I would like to find out what the steps are to move from the current visa to FLR-m, then to ILR.

Here are my circumstances:

- Wife (of 15 years) was issued spouse via in August, residence card collected in UK in September
- Two children (15 and 10) both British citizens
- I own wholly a UK private limited company
- My dividends and savings are sufficient to meet any visa income requirements

My company (UK) has many staff in Asia and a large part of my work is the supervision of these staff. That is easier to do from Asia.

So for the FLR-M my question is this, providing all other requirements are met (income, English test etc) and the application is made from the UK, is the amount of time that my wife and I spend together outside of the UK during the period of the first visa part of the consideration process?

My question for the ILR is the same. Providing we are successful in the FLR-m and a period of five years has passed since the initial visa and we have spent the entire final year in the UK as a family prior to applying for ILR, would any long period spent abroad together as a family impact the application process?

Thanks again for all your help.

Sorry I just wanted to mention that I have searched the forums and read all of the existing posts on this subject and the guidance written here:

In applications for further limited leave to remain or for indefinite leave to remain in the UK as a partner, where there have been limited periods of time spent outside the UK, this must be for good reasons and the reasons must be consistent with the intention to live together permanently in the UK. Good reasons could include time spent in connection with the applicant’s or their partner’s employment, holidays, training or study.
If the couple have spent the majority of the period overseas, there may be reason to doubt that all the requirements of the Rules have been met, e.g. that the couple intend to live together permanently in the UK. Each case must be judged on its merits, taking into account reasons for travel, length of absence and whether the applicant and sponsor travelled and lived together during the time spent outside the UK. These factors will need to be considered against the requirements of the Rules.

This seems quite vague. I would be working overseas for my work, but we aren't talking about a one week trip, I might need to be somewhere for a year or more, with the main consideration keeping our family together in one place.

My feeling is that if I spend a long time away from my family, this could affect the application and if I take my family with me this could affect the application. It seems like a catch 22.