@Gapsie I sent the message above as you were sending your reply to my first message and want to make sure you saw it. It's very important that the tourist visa refusal gets disclosed on the DS-260 when it comes time for that
Just be sure when you get to the NVC stage and fill out the DS-260 for her Immigrant Visa, you DO disclose the denied tourist visa in the appropriate place in the DS-260 form
A tourist visa application does not require a petition to USCIS so you answered correctly. That question is asking if anyone else has filed an I-130, I-140, I-129, etc., before on your mom's behalf. Don't sweat it, you didn't screw anything up
This looks to be good news! They have probably got finished or near to finished with the AP and are ready to issue the visa which is why they asked for the new medical. They will probably ask for the passport once they review the medical exam results.
Only because these new portals don't allow you to schedule the appointment until your status is "Ready". You can do it early if you want to and just wait until your status changes to do the rest
https://www.ustraveldocs.com/pk/en/immigrant-visa#kvisa
Follow the steps there.... it's a different portal. Looks like they changed it on Feb 8th, 2025
Manila did this last summer and then in the fall they dumped like 1000 appointment slots on the website so it looks like maybe they're having the same thing going on
Also keep in mind that even though the K-1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa, for the purposes of the interview, the embassies treat it just like an immigrant visa. (With the exception of scheduling the interview. You will schedule it yourself where an immigrant visa gets scheduled by the NVC). So follow all the checklists and preparation steps listed on that page I linked above.
The DS-160 is valid for 1 year after you submit it, regardless I would wait until the case says "Ready". You do not schedule the interview with the DS-160 form. For the specific processes in Pakistan I would start here:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/ISL-Islamabad.html
You do not need to wait for the Embassy to send you an email to schedule a K-1 in Manila. As long as your case status shows "Ready" you can schedule your appointments. However, there has been some kind of meltdown there in Manila and no appointments have been showing up on the website for several weeks. There is a thread here on VJ already going for this: