Maintainance Funds for a Dependent on a person with ILR visa

[Buntybobby]

Hi

I am on Tier 2 General visa currently and will be eligible for ILR by the end of August 2019. My wife and my kid are in UK as Tier 2 dependents. I am planning to extend their visa once I apply for my ILR. Now the issue is I did not maintain any funds(630£ per dependent) in my account for wife and kids visa. So can someone suggest me any solution in my case where I can apply visa for my dependents without requiring to maintain funds. OR
I order to avoid the above issue, Can I apply for ILR dependent instead of PBS dependent. Kindly advice.

P.S. My wife came to UK in 2016. But she was outside UK for more than 1 year continuously from end of 2017 to March 2019. She came back to UK in March 2019.

[CR001]

There is NO absence limit for PBS Dependents who have visas issued BEFORE 11th January 2018.

If you don't have the maintenance funds in any of your or her bank accounts (UK or abroad), a PBS Dependent visa will be refused.

If you switch them to ILR Dependent on FLR(M), it resets their clock to zero and a new 5 year route to ILR (2 x 2.5 year visas).