Early Extension with genuine reason

[saprohit]

Dear friends,
I have been reading early extensions discussion earlier. I am also having similar case, but this is nothing to do with the my job. It is rather to do with my wife's case. My visa expire on Sept 11, 2012 so was planning to apply for extension on August, 2012. But my wife is going Africa (not our home country) in first week of July, 2012 for work and will be back only on December, 2012. That means while she will be there, her visa will expire. Initially I thought that she apply for extension in Africa but after checking UKBA website, she will not be able to apply for extension there as it's not her country of residence.

So, now I am planning to apply at the end of June so my wife can fly to Africa with extended visa.

Of course, my fear is they extend the visa from the date of application rather than date of expiry. Will it make difference if I explain this reason to them with supporting documents (my wife's work letter etc)?
Has anyone had such experience before or do you think they will consider this genuine case?
Thanks in advance.

[Lucapooka]

You can extend your leave at any time; you don't need any particular reason. You will, however, only get a fixed term and if you apply earlier than month you may create a gap in the five years. Some people have applied two months earlier without problems but I think this depends on how soon or late they get to make a decision after the application date.

[mantasingh]

Applying at end of June and thinking to fly in July is a brave decision.

On an average it is taking around 2-3 months for the applications to be processed.

If going via PEO even then it is not guaranteed that you will get the same day decision.

[saprohit]

Thanks for the reply.
My idea is to go to PEO and keep 10 days just in case it gets delayed.
What do you guys think?