FLR M - Absence from The UK

[brumbeat]

I am a UK citizen and my wife and dependent daughter joined me in the UK in July 2014 from a country outside the EEU on a Spouse visa. Her daugter was 17 when she was granted Entry Clearance.

In March 2017 we will apply for FLR. The issue we have is that her daughter has already spent 358 days since then outside the UK studying in a third country and is now back in the UK. Is this amount of time away likely to affect the FLR M application? Does the argument that it is absence for studying help? We can prove that she was dependant on us whilst she was away.

I am asking the question now because this will influence decisions made in Sept 2016 for further study. I appreciate that she would need to be here to make the application along with her mother in March 17.

The absence question appears not to be clear for FLR