ErinK

What you are describing is Persecution waiver not Hardship. Persecution waivers are actually really fast. If you have a persecution case (if you get in trouble if you go back to your country) you or your lawyer should have filed a persecution J-1 waiver. Don't wait in this crazy long line. File a perscution waiver. They decide those in less than 6 months and it doesn't even need sponsor view

I did both of those multiple times. My situation and the hardship imposed on the U.S citizen spouse and minor were pretty dire and life-threatening but they still didn't expedite it. Both my attempts and multiple congresspeople's efforts to expedite didn't go anywhere. I did not have government funding for those asking nor was sponsor views involved. You can use any lawyer to file WoM. It's pretty standard. It's best to do it with the lawyer already helping you with your J-1 since they are familiar with the case and can write a strong cover letter for your lawsuit

Finally got approval. My case has been pending with DoS since Feb 2022. Filed a lawsuit which took about 1 month for all parties (USCIS and DOS) to be served. Once they got served, it took around 3 weeks to get FR from DoS. USCIS asked for an extension until Nov but ended up approving the case and sending me the final waiver within 2 weeks of FR from DoS. I hired a lawyer and paid 5K. Good luck everybody