Pre-visa, how long between visits ?

[C7D]

My husband and I are applying for a spouse visa in six months so that he can come and live here with me in England (He is Israeli)

As an Israeli he can be in England for 6 months but we are not sure how long he has to be out of the UK between visits.

We’ve tried to call the Israeli embassy a few times and an immigration adviser who helped us in the past and no matter where and when we call there doesn’t seem to be an answer for the past two weeks.

Since he was here for 3 months, left for 6 weeks and is back here now for another 2 months we are not sure if we can extend his out ticket till after Christmas and then have him spend some weeks in Israel before returning to England.

It’s unclear how many entries he can have within these six months of entry.
It’s unclear if there is even a “waiting” period before each visit.

The problem is that he doesn’t have anything real to do in Israel.
He already left his business and although he doesn’t do anything while in the UK we can at least spend this time together!
Our thoughts were that since we still have to go through six months of work on my part (financial proof) before we apply for the spouse visa and since there really is nothing meaningful for him to do in Israel (other than selling or giving away his belongings, which he does not need six months for, one month will do). We would like him to spend as much time here before we apply for the visa.

So far the three months that he already spent within a six months period and the two months that he is spending now will be five months of the allowed six. We wanted to keep a spare month in case we needed him to come back for whatever reason but as we’ve explained above, we’re not sure if that’s even possible since there may be a limit to how many entries he has and if that is the case we will use the full six months and extend his ticket.

We would really appreciate it if anyone could clarify it for us. It’s very confusing and no one seems to know the answers or is picking up the phone.

[Casa]

The general rule is that he shouldn't be spending more time in the UK in a 12 month period than he is spending in his home country.

[C7D]

I'm sorry but this is still confusing.
When does this 12 month period starts?
We constantly see each other, there is no time where we don't see each other for 12 months so you can point the finger and say this is where we should calculate from.

[C7D]

I'm sorry but this is still confusing.
When does this 12 month period starts?
We constantly see each other, there is no time where we don't see each other for 12 months so you can point the finger and say this is where we should calculate from.

[Wanderer]

Is he visiting UK or is he living in UK? That's the decision the IO will make on entry.

[Wanderer]

Is he visiting UK or is he living in UK? That's the decision the IO will make on entry.

[Casa]

OK, as an example, start the calculation from when he arrived 3 months ago. Now estimate how much time he will spend in the 12 month period from that first arrival. If you calculate it as more than 6 months in the UK then the Border Entry Officer may take the view that he is living here and not just visiting, due to the frequency of the visits and the time spent outside of this home country.