Spouse - Leaving UK for a year and then returning?

[Harmonica]

I got some very useful advice here about 18 months ago when preparing my wife's application and I'm hoping some of you can help me out again.

I am a UK citizen and my wife is Chinese. My wife has a spouse visa and has been in the UK since September last year. We had originally planned to live in the UK for about 4 years and ensure that she got her ILR before going back abroad but circumstances have changed and we now intend to spend a year living out of the country from this September. My question is, do we need to begin the whole process again next year? That is, do we need to apply for a whole new visa (obviously her initial visa will expire in September next year) or can we simply extend it? And do we have to begin the two year period of living in the UK again in order for her to qualify for ILR (does it have to be consecutive)?

I did call the government helpline on this but they were thoroughly unhelpful. Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer some views on our situation.

[batleykhan]

I think you are allowed allowed to stay up to a maximum of 2 years before you have to return to the UK for your visa to remain valid. The downside of getting a visa and then living in a forign country means you will have to stay longer in the UK when you apply for British Nationality.