flicks1998

Even if your spouse was never married they may still need the AKA NBI clearance if they were born illegitimate and then the parents legitimised the birth.  
 
BTW before COVID, this illegitimate and legitimate designation was in Congress to be eliminated as they have finally realised the discrimination with it. It may still be a few years before it’s done away with but that time is coming. 

Congratulations on getting to the light at the end of the tunnel.  As bad as it sounds, I think you will find that experience providing you strength throughout your relationship.  If the two of you can survive that 4 year period, you can survive anything else.  Its an unbelievable story with a great ending that most couples would never be able to do. 

The US Embassy has advice online here.
https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/marriage/marriage-in-japan/
 
Probably a significant percentage of American marriages that take place in Japan involve service members stationed there.  So the Military has information available as well.  While it may not all be directly applicable to civilians, probably much of it is the same. 
https://www.usarj.army.mil/Portals/33/cmdStaffs/sja/doc/Marriage_in_Japan.pdf
 
Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage (LCCM) is a Philippine thing rather than a Japanese thing, however it seems unclear if it gets included under Japanese laws that the the persons marrying must fulfill the legal requirements of whatever country they are citizens of???  The US partner only needs an affidavit notarized by the US Embassy.  It seems unclear if an affidavit notarized by the Philippine Embassy or a CENOMAR would suffice for the Filipino partner.  Since the Philippine Embassy specifically says they only issue LCCM's to Filipinos who are resident in Japan, maybe it would be most helpful to ask them if they how how it works for non-resident Filipino partners.

If the main goal is just to get married, a Utah online marriage could be done while in Japan, and is fully recognized by both the US and the Philippines.  That would certainly be much simpler and involve far less bureaucracy if there are no other reasons to go through the Japanese government..

CFO holds all the cards on whether your fiancée can leave the Philippines or not with a K1 visa.  You have to play their game according to whatever rules they make up.  There is no way around it.  It's one of those situations where the easy way past them is to just put on a big fake smile and compliantly do whatever they say you have to do.

Yes, K1 is technically a non-immigrant visa, but it is processed as an immigrant visa.  Hence, CEAC status is shown via the CEAC IV link up to the interview stage.  After that, CEAC status for K1 typically moves to the NIV link.
 
CFO is required for all emigrating PH passport holders, including those intending to fly out with K1 visa.  If the BI officer at the airport sees the K1 visa in the passport, they will demand to see a CFO sticker or certificate.  If your fiancee has neither, she will not be allowed to board the plane.  Unless your fiancee is a senior citizen, she must attend the CFO seminar to obtain the certificate.
 

Can you provide more clarity on the line in bold?  When you saying "covers all costs", do you mean they are covering his housing, food, and incidental expenses and the $15K-$20K is mainly savings?  If thats the case, it may help providing Immigration further details.  The one thing I found out when I returned to the US was that generally speaking salaries are high, but the people are broke and $15-$20K after expenses is better than what 80-85% of Americans have, if not a higher %.  If I did not interrupt that correctly, then having a 2nd job may be needed.  

There are quite a few I knew and know in the Philippines who applied for the IR visa while having lived and still living in the Philippines for 10+ years.  They had no issues.  The few I know going through the process now have not chimed in this thread, but I think @Chancy got it right in her fourth post.  Manila does not seem to care much.

Agreed.  I can tell you the medical system I work in, we have 500 foreign nurses in the pipeline.  We have an entire govt affairs dept working Senators and DC extremely hard to try and make some kind of exceptions for nurses and medical professionals.  We are under extreme pressure on being so short staffed in all aspects in the medical field.  Either immigration is going to have to make the process faster for these position or Americans are going to need to start caring about their health and the latter will take too long.  Also, this is just our medical system, this problem is nationwide.

When I applied for the K1 for my wife, I had been out of the US for 25 years.  I just included a short letter in the initial documents that stated I would be moving back to the US between such and such dates.  I gave a range of about 3 or 4 months.  I had nothing tying me to the US except some brokerage accounts.  I had no US bank, no US credit cards, no drivers license, all the credit report items had dropped off so had no credit which hasnt been an obstacle to anything.  I listed my sister's address as a mailing address. Nobody ever asked about it through the entire process and it was never an issue which included USCIS and the embassy in Manila.  I filed US taxes every year but the IRS never inputted my overseas address correctly, so when I returned to the US, it took multiple days and a total of about 10 hours on the phone to confirm my identity.  This was during Covid so no offices were open.

Meeting in person prior to filing the petition is the most crucial part of filing. No meeting = no approval. COVID is not an excuse that USCIS entertains, we have seen it countless times. There’s no appeal, you must refile but at least this time you’re eligible because you met in person. 

Then you have your answer

Gender matters.
 
IMO from posts on visa journey, all other things being equal, a female U.S. citizen petitioner who is 31 years older than a male beneficiary, from a non OECD country is more likely to have difficultly than a male U.S. citizen petitioner who is 31 years older than a female beneficiary, from a non OECD country.
 

I work in a large medical center and we routinely have people from overseas fly to the US for medical care.  In fact it occurs daily and even during the peak of Covid, we were still able to fly people in and out of the country despite logistics becoming more difficult and travel bans in place.  Their was always an unwritten rule that the travel bans never applied for people seeking medical help or care.
 
If a person does not have a current B visa, all Embassies will issue these for proven medical needs which is typically having a letter from the local doctor, course of treatment, as well as how the services will be paid.  One of our divisions is our health plan and some patients living overseas have insurance through our health plan (not sure how they obtained it) or many would just pay out of pocket.  The ones paying out of pocket would get a list of charges from the US hospital/doctor and that would be submitted when applying for the B visa.  Exceptions will always be made for people who are in need of urgent medical care and they can prove they can pay.  There are alot of people around the world with the financial means to pay for medical services in the US without any US health insurance.   

I work quite closely with one of our organization's HR dept.  Within that department, there are company recruiters.  We are an organization of around 95K people, so there are various people recruiting for dept types of jobs.
 
Before I returned to the US, I was working overseas for a little more than 25 years.  The jobs I held in various countries overseas dominated my resume.  In fact, to any recruiter, I would look like I was not even authorized to work in the US, even though I was a citizen.  However, at the top of my resume, after where you have your name, address, and contact details, I put one bullet point, highlighted that stated I was a US citizen.  The recruiter who hired me where I work now, told me months later that they were passing over my resume, until they saw that I was a US citizen.
 
My suggestion is you should do something similar, but put something like "US Permanent Resident, authorized to work in the US without company sponsorship."  Something like that.  The HR managers etc who I work with have told me that they constantly get people applying for positions who either hide or lie that they dont need company sponsorship to work in the US and its a tremendous waste of time for them.  In fact, if any of our recruiters, etc feel a person needs immigration sponsorship, etc, they just pass over the resume.  Since your resume will likely only contain places of work overseas, this may help increase the number of interviews you do get, plus eliminate any misunderstandings along the way.

Most travel insurance only covers emergency, not existing conditions follow up.  Just make sure you verify the coverage.

If you could report back, it would be interesting to see what stance they take.  I was out of the US for 20++ years and return just before Covid.  Stayed in MI for about 2 months and there were 10 pot stores every block.  Moved to PA where marijuana is supposedly still illegal but if you go downtown Pittsburgh or Philly, all you will smell is pot. And that is not an understatement. The police do not do anything about it.  Drive 2 miles off any interstate into rural America, and it seems half the population is high on some kind of drug.  Seems the Sakler family dominated that region while I was away.  Then it seems the other half are loaded up on prescription drugs.  The nation is filled with drug users.  My mother recently passed away at home and the first thing the medical examiner started asking was if she took illicit drugs.  It was another ####### moment Ive had back here, but then I remembered which country I moved back to and the ME told me that they are seeing over half their cases of people dying at home either on illicit drugs or taking too many prescription drugs.

Can be a pretty common problem in the Philippines.  Hiding children from spouses or not telling potential spouses that they were previously married and the only way to get married would be an expensive and long annulment.  Seen alot of foreigners get suckered into paying the annulment process and then the newly freed potential spouse running off to another local.  Also seen alot of children reappear 4-5 years after the couple marry.  

Can be a pretty common problem in the Philippines.  Hiding children from spouses or not telling potential spouses that they were previously married and the only way to get married would be an expensive and long annulment.  Seen alot of foreigners get suckered into paying the annulment process and then the newly freed potential spouse running off to another local.  Also seen alot of children reappear 4-5 years after the couple marry.  

Can be a pretty common problem in the Philippines.  Hiding children from spouses or not telling potential spouses that they were previously married and the only way to get married would be an expensive and long annulment.  Seen alot of foreigners get suckered into paying the annulment process and then the newly freed potential spouse running off to another local.  Also seen alot of children reappear 4-5 years after the couple marry.  

Terminal fee is normally bundled in the ticket price.  Travel tax is required for immigrant visa holders.  Check the line items on the ticket -- if there is a charge for PhP 1620, then travel tax is already included in the ticket price.  If not, your relatives will need to pay the tax at NAIA.  If they are unsure whether it is already included or not, the airline check-in staff will advise them if they need to pay travel tax.
 

Travel tax is not the same as terminal fee.  Terminal fee is included in the ticket now at NAIA.  Travel tax can either be bundled into the ticket or they may have to pay at the TIEZA counter.  It's entirely up to how the airline ticketed it. Some airlines automatically include it, some airlines give a choice to include it or not, some airlines don't include it by default. You can look at the line item taxes for a P1620 or ~$29ish tax, or if you really can't tell if it's paid or not the airline check-in agent will send them to the TIEZA counter if it wasn't paid.

It appears a police certificate can be obtained without traveling back to Nigeria. 
Nigeria (state.gov)
"Comments: Applicants outside the country are advised that mailed requests for police certificates are not an effective method of obtaining the records. It is recommended that applicants outside Nigeria obtain a police certificate upon their next visit or enlist the assistance of a friend or relative able to physically visit the Deputy Inspector General. Note that each applicant 16 years of age and above must also provide (1) a copy of the first three data pages of his or her passport, (2) the pages containing Nigerian visas, entry and departure stamps and (3) a complete set of fingerprints taken by the police in the district where the applicant resides. The Police Character Certificate is obtained by applying to the relevant Police Department of the Nigeria Police"

Well annulments take years, so his chance of getting her here are slim to none. If she has no real assets or property tying her to the Philippines IMO she will have zero chance in getting a tourist visa. If he insists on moving this direction you can always wait and then tell him I told you so. 🤣
 
Also next time tell your wife not to introduce someone who is married. LDR is hard enough and if you want a future you need to throw in all of the added difficulties (time and money) of getting an annulment.

The below is not my personal advice, it is strictly a comment based on what I have seen many US citizens do who live in the Philippines and want to bring their gfs/bfs/spouses, etc to visit the US.  Since 99% of them will be rejected for a B-visa, many will do a K1 visa, go through that process for a year +, get the visa, bring their SO to the US for a 3 month trip, and then return to the Philippines.  Obviously this is fraud, but this is what many do, and creates problems for the rest of us who do a K1 or CR1 visa legitimately.  I mention this as it shows how far people will go because the chance of a B visa is tiny.
 
If he has the time, it makes much more sense for him to go there and visit.  

CFO is whatever the "counselor" says it is.  They absolutely have the authority to make up rules as they go along.  First look at what RO_AH mentioned about the difference between minimum requirements and possible additional requirements.  Did the counselor actually come back with a secondary request for police clearance after submission of the minimum basic requirements?  They certainly could, but it's less common on a visa case.  They usually reserve some of their crazier requests for applicants wanting to travel alone to meet sponsors or partners not connected to a visa petition.