Hello everyone,

Thank you all for the advice in these forums, and for the humour too.

My wife received her spouse visa in February 2012 (we used Real Russia and Natalia was very helpful). Her visa is valid until mid May 2014. 

She had to delay her arrival here and spent a few days here in early May before returning to Russia. She'll return to the UK next week. Please could you help me make sure I've understood the next steps correctly?

For ILR, as far as I can see, we can apply in early May 2014, two years after her first entry to the UK on the spouse visa. Does time spent out of the country matter for ILR?

For citizenship, if I've understood correctly, the earliest we can apply would be May 2015, but if we did that she would already have 'spent' about 60 days of the maximum of 90 days out of the country that she is allowed each year. However, if we delay applying until July 2015 her count of days out of the country will start at 0. 

Can anyone see any flaws in what I've written above? Can you think of any other potential pitfalls to watch out for?

Many thanks for your help,

Simon