oh , sad story..
ladyJ , i think Victoria is an expert in employment visa's. but still , the more opinons you can get the better
dont spend any money on any lawyer until you really need to, you need to start with free advice from a few different people and sources, as each one might give you wrong advice, having been thru a nightmare of a problem of getting my stepson ILR and lots of advice from lots of places and of wrong advice..
my previous post here will give you an idea of where to start ..
start with free advice...
http://filipinaroses.com/showthread.php?t=3107
good luck