J1 Visa 2 Year Home Residency Rule USA

[joshuatfwood]

In September 2016, I met my current girlfriend when on holiday in Nashville, USA. After studying for a year in the UK (beginning September 2017), I decided to move to Nashville to be with my girlfriend and complete my second year of study there on a J-1 visa (I am currently here until May/June). It was not brought to my direct attention however that I would be subject to a 2 year stay in my home country after this visa had expired which sucks!! The plan was that after a year in ther UK, I would graduate and move to Nashville on a fiance visa and get married. The reason I believe I am subject is that my home government has helped to finance my year abroad. However, I do have a few questions regarding this:

1. Will this home 'government funding' actually be classed as funding if it is technically my money as a debt?
2. Would it be worth applying for a 'letter of no objection' from my home government to hopefully get the 2 years wavered, do you believe I have legitimacy for this?
3. If I apply for this 'letter of no objection' and it gets denied, am I likely to encounter any future repercussions with my fiance/marriage visa?
4. If it is worth applying for a 'letter of no objection', should I hire an immigration lawyer to help us through the process or will I have just as much chance on my own? It dosen't look too complicated as all of the instructions are easy to follow and attorneys cost A LOT!

I appreciate all the help, good luck to everyone with all your visas!
Josh

[Cindyklk]

I was in the exact same boat a little over two years ago and thank God I finally became a permanent resident recently.

-The "no objection letter" should be your number ONE priority right now, it's literally the easiest way for you to get rid of that 2 year rule, you don't need legitimacy for this, is up to your embassy to basically be like "yeah he can stay we don't care"
-You should get on that right now because even tho it says it takes about 3 months to get it, it really depends on how fast can your embassy process it, and I might tell you, MINE TOOK 7 MONTHS!!!!! And you can't start the adjustment of status process without the approval letter from DOS or the final approval notice for the waiver from USCIS.
-The whole 'government funding is a technicality, is not a debt don't worry about that.
-If it's gets denied basically you can't apply for the adjustment of status and you're going to have to apply again. the only reason I could think that they deny it is because they gave you funding for the whole thing but is very rare that an embassy would deny to send that letter. If it gets denied you're going to have to go with the Extreme hardship route which is a little more expensive but it doesn't involve your embassy.
-I went to an attorney for a consultation and this specimen HAD NO IDEA what I was talking about, literally told me : "oh we just submit the package and if they say something we'll say we didn't know"... AN IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY that charges 5.5k ($5,500) for an adjustment of status package that was going to get rejected because I had the rule. So it's your choice but we did it on our own.