Hi Aposhark,
We had a similar situation, I received my FLR which is supposed to be spouse visa (valid for 2 years) on Feb07 then my hubby had an offer to work abroad also! And I chose to stay in Philippines rather than staying alone in UK. I was out of the country for 9 months, and then came back to the UK in time to apply for my ILR ( which will be the residence permit ) They approved my ILR but we needed to give them lots more evidence to prove while out of the country we were still together! So all in all I stayed out of the UK for 9months and in the UK for 15 months with a spouse visa status.
I hope it will give u some ideas
Goodluck..
