Need a shoulder to cry on

Hi all...I feel weird posting this on an internet forum but I can't be completely honest anywhere else and I'm just so stressed and worried about the future.

My husband and I moved to the UK 4.5 years ago from India. Yes, we are the dreaded 'immigrants'. My husband came here on a work permit, I came as his dependant. We were both university educated and had several years of work experience before we came to the UK. Also, my husband's profession was and still is on the list of 'shortage occupations', which means there is a shortage of people with the skills and experience to fill these positions in the UK.

The conditions of a work permit at the time meant that you had to have a job offer before you came to the UK and you were only allowed to work for that employer. If you wanted to change employers, you had to pay the Home Office close to £1000 each time. As a dependant I could work for anyone I wanted but my permission to work and stay in the country depends on my husbands.

It was and is a condition of our visa that we have no recourse to public funds so apart from the NHS, we don't qualify for any help from the government. Though of course we pay tax and NI.

My husband has changed jobs several times to better his career and works extremely hard. I have also worked at a good job since the day I got to the UK. We both speak excellent English, have tried hard to integrate and have plenty of British friends. We saw our future in this country and were making plans to buy a house and have a baby.

Then 3 weeks ago my husband was made redundant. Rules for work permits have now changed - it is now a points based system according to which you have to either be in a shortage occupation or you have to have a bachelor's degree. My husband qualifies on points (though he had to give an elementary English test to prove he could communicate in the UK - he's been head of a department in an international organisation for the past 4 years!)

But he has to find a job, get the employer to issue a 'certificate of sponsorship' and apply for the new permit within 28 days or we have to leave the UK. When he applied for jobs (there are thousands of jobs in his field at his level), agents were very enthusiastic about his qualifications and experience but as soon as they realised he needs sponsorship, they backed off. With great difficulty, and after applying for thousands of jobs all over the UK, he has been offered a job. But the job offer is conditional on him being able to join within 4 weeks. The head office of the employer is taking it's time over issuing the certificate of sponsorship and the home office says the absolute minimum time for it to process an application is 3 weeks. So if the head office does not give him the certificate this week, he may lose the job offer and we will have to leave the UK.

Sorry for the long story but I wanted to explain our position thoroughly. I am just so upset and stressed over this situation. I think it's incredible that he has managed to find a job so quickly but to think that it may be for nothing. We've built our lives here, our friends and support circle is here - we don't want to leave. We haven't committed a crime, we have followed every rule and we've done our best to be good citizens (without actually being British citizens).

The thought that we may have to sell our furniture, our lovely new car (secondhand but new for us), abandon our life and get out is just so hard to bear. And depending on how his job application goes, we may have little or no notice to get out.

I know there are no solutions and we just have to hope the visa gets processed in time but I can't go on being strong anymore; I just needed to tell someone. I have told a few close friends but not the whole story because my husband doesn't want me to. I'm at the end of my tether and I would really appreciate some support.