Visitor Visas - 6 months and 2 years

[Davec]

Without going into the full story. My wife's spouse visa expires in July. She decided to stay in her home country and not live in the UK. I understand that she can use still her spouse visa to visit me here until it expires in 2019.

After then, she can apply for Visitor Visas to visit me here in the UK. I am her husband. I also go to her country to be with her there.

The question is this. She will not be able to get a 2 years visitor visa until she first demonstrates to UKVI that she needs one and that she will comply with the immigration rules. So the plan is, when the spouse visa expires, for her to first apply for one or two of the 6 months Visitors. She is definitely not the type to not comply with these rules, and there is no reason she would want to.

But, in your experience, how many 6 months visitor visas does it take for UKVI officials to be confident to issue her with a 2 years Visitor Visa? For example, if she comes here several times by using 2 of the 6 months visas and complies on each trip with the rules, would this be sufficient evidence for UKVI to conclude that she can be trusted not to abuse her use of a 2 years Visitor Visa?

In other words, how many 6 months visitor visas would it take (in your estimation) for her to be awarded before she would be reasonably sure that if she applies for the 2 years visitor visa she would be awarded it?

Thank you.