Mod Dom, I heard about that too. And I met a few who's spouses stayed here for mos and had no work to go back to in the UK and yet got their visa and went back together to UK. I don't know if they just got lucky or the ECO made it easier on them coz they lived together longer or its something about their "right" as a family. Can't remember now but they told me that it would have been better and easier if I applied when he was still here and went back to UK with him. Money was not the issue before. We had savings, a lil biz here and stocks in the UK that he can sell, and his family and mine are willing to help us. We could have stayed at his parents' house too. The problem was that he had no biz or job to go back to. So we decided to wait.
If I've known waiting is this hard, maybe we should have tried and took the risk. And visa fee was just 260 sterling before.
A member here got her visa last Aug and her hubby was here in the Phils for 8 mos when they applied. He was out of the UK for 4 years And he wasn't working too for 2 or 3 years. Is that luck?

emma