Spouse visa - wife has ILR and daughter is British

[zahidyounas]

Me and my wife are currently living in Pakistan and have one toddler girl who is British by birth (she was born in London). My wife has ILR and she got it decade ago through her dad’s dependant visa. My wife hasn’t lived in the uk for long and has only always visited for short periods but since we are married and living here in Pakistan, we have decided now to move to the UK for good. My wife wants to go to UK first and start working and apply for my spouse visa.
I have two questions:
1. Will it be easy for her to apply for my visa if she can just prove and provide after 6 months that she has a job and earning minimum 18600 a year? Will our daughter being British add any value to our case?
2. What if I want to visit my wife and daughter in visit visa for a month or so while they are there (before applying for my spouse visa) please note that I have visited Uk many times in the past 5 years so my travel history is good with them. But this shall be my first time as a married person having British daughter and ILR wife. Should I still apply for visit visa and say I want to visit them for some time and will get my spouse visa later anyway??

[CR001]

What year did she get ILR?

What year did she move out of the UK?

What date was her last visit to the UK and for how long?

ILR is NOT 'indefinite' if the person is not living in the UK. It is lost after 2 years absence and short visits do not usually maintain the ILR status.

[secret.simon]

ILR lapses if the holder has been outside the UK for more than two years. Your wife's ILR may no longer be valid.

Read this thread and the links in it.

Edit: Beaten by CR001.

[zahidyounas]

Wife has been going to UK continuously and has not lived outside UK for more than 2 years so her ILR is still valid. Her last visit was in 2016 when she had our baby there and came back after the baby in 2017. So ILR status is not an issue. She will go again in a month and then start trying to settle in and apply for my spouse visa. Please now answer my questions based on this information.

[blondesafari]

So, your wife has been living in Pakistan, but returned to the UK in 2016 on a visit, and gave birth on the NHS?

[zahidyounas]

No, she has been living in the UK for several months in a year and spending other months here in Pakistan for the last 10 years. Its just that after we got married in 2015 December, she spent a few months here in Pakistan and then went back to UK in September 2016, had baby in December 2016 and came back to Pakistan in Jan 2017. Since Jan 2017 she has been in Pakistan with me. Now she wants to go back to UK and apply for my Spouse Visa so that both of us could live there permanently. Hence my questions.

[vinny]

If your daughter has successfully applied for either a British passport or CoE-RoA, then this should help.

[zahidyounas]

Yes my daughter has a british passport already. It should help with my visit visa right?