My wife has FLR visa in the UK and has been here for nearly 4 years . She is having to return to Thailand and may be there for some time. Can anyone confirm how much absence she is allowed without it affecting her application for ILR later on. And is there anything i need to do or report her absence to start with?

Would appreciate anyones input.

There is no specified maximum time allowed out of the UK whilst qualifying for ILR.

 

However, when she applies she will have to show that she is a UK resident, living with you and has been for the entire time.

 

Obviously short, regular absences for holidays, family visits and similar are not a problem. longer absences, with or without you, are allowable; depending both on the length of the absence and the reason.

 

As each case is treated on it's own merits, it's impossible to be more definite; sorry.

 

Be warned, though; if she is out of the UK when her present leave to remain expires then she will have to obtain the appropriate visa to enter the UK again. Which means if she will be returning to take up residence she will have to start the settlement process all over again.

On 2017-6-13 at 1:36 PM, 7by7 said:

There is no specified maximum time allowed out of the UK whilst qualifying for ILR.

Correct, but might be worth noting that this depends on the visa route to ILR. For the OP (and most of us here), it's going to be a partner of British citizen route with no maximum time outside of the UK specified. I did a double take reading the above because, by chance, this week someone on a Tier 2 work visa asked me about leaving the UK before his ILR application and there's a 180 day max absence requirement in that case. I assumed it was going to apply to my wife because I hadn't re-read the rules lately. Glad to see she won't be affected. There are so many different rules to watch out for!