J.M.

All required vaccines will be given on day 2 at St. Luke's. No need to get any in advance. For vaccines that require multiple doses, only the first in the series is required, and it will be provided at St. Luke's.

Do not wait for anything from the embassy for the Philippines. You will not get anything except possibly an email saying your case is ready. Everything there is driven by you. Once the DS-160 payment receipt is valid (24-36 hours), you can start looking for an interview appointment. Once you have the interview date, schedule medical exam for about a week prior to interview. I-129f approval evidence is the NOA2 from USCIS. It will say "Approval Notice" in the block to the right of the address block. Below that, the first sentence in the text will say "The above petition has been approved." This is not "cheating the system." It is the normal and correct way to do things in the Philippines. The packet others speak of generally never arrives from USEM, and even if it does, it will be months after you have completed the process. It is not expected for you to wait for it, and it is not required at any point for you to complete the process.

For the Philippines, the embassy will not set up the interview for K-1. As soon as you complete and pay for the DS-160, you will set up your own appointment at Apply for a U.S. Visa | Schedule/Change My Appointment - Philippines (English) (ustraveldocs.com)

Did you get this one recently? I know you can order BC online and have it delivered to the US for something like $20. At least that is how much it was a few years ago. Perhaps order another one and hope for better resolution, or at least the full document. The one I got was also difficult to read because the copy was poor, and that was a typed one for a 2002 birth. I don't remember how long it took to arrive, but it wasn't all that long.

The DS-160 is intended for the beneficiary to fill out. You can use her email or yours, but her name. I filled it out for my fiancée and just had her review and submit it. I used my email, not hers.

Create the account here: Apply for a U.S. Visa | Schedule/Change My Appointment - Philippines (English) (ustraveldocs.com) Click "login" and it will take you to the login page, where you can create a "new user" account. It looks very similar to the page you linked to, but it might be different, so give it a try.

For Manila, you do not have to wait for anything from the embassy to schedule your appointment. Complete the DS-160 and pay the visa fee. After payment is validated, you are free to schedule your interview appointment on ustraveldocs. Once you know your interview date, schedule medical exam a week or so prior to interview date. The "welcome letter" may or may not ever arrive. It is not needed for any steps along the way.

It appears you will have to file for Recognition of Foreign Divorce to get your CEMAR annotated to show your divorce. Anything that shows you are currently married will stop the K-1 process at the interview. I do not have personal experience with this, so perhaps others will tell you something different. Take a look at this thread covering the topic:

Did your previous marriage take place in the US or the Philippines? If in the US, did you file a ROM?

For both of these name changes, you provided valid documentation that allowed the name change. The OP wants to drop his "first" first name. That will be difficult if the identity document he provides lists that as his first name.

The number holder’s (NH) first and last name on his or her SSN card must agree with the first and last name shown on the document submitted as evidence of identity or legal name. A middle name or suffix is not considered part of the legal name. It does not matter if the middle name or suffix is included, omitted, or incorrectly shown on an SSN card. For SSN purposes, a NH’s legal name consists of the first (or given name) and last (or family name or surname) that is used to sign legal documents, deeds, or contracts. The SSN card has two lines for the NH’s name with 26 spaces on the first line for the NH’s first and middle names and 26 spaces on the second line for the last name and suffix, if any. Neither the first or last names shown on the SSN card should be reduced in length, unless it exceeds the 26-character limit. Therefore, omit middle names, middle initials, and suffixes if they prevent you from showing as many characters as possible for the first and last names.

That is more than enough to show evidence of meeting within the last 2 years. On-going relationship evidence is more for the interview. There is nothing wrong with submitting it to present date with your I-129f, but you will want to provide up to date on-going evidence to your fiancée just prior to interview time. Also include passport photos of each of you, signed letters of intent to marry from each of you, and proof of your citizenship through birth certificate or passport bio page.

Use whatever email address you want that you know is reliable. You will schedule the interview yourself after submission and payment of the DS-160. It will take 24-36 hours for the payment to be valid, not the 4 hours claimed in the instructions, so be prepared to wait longer than advertised.

You will have to carefully look at the codes on your receipt to see if travel tax was included. For a while it was, but I think now it may not be again. It was not included on my flight (Korean) last month. There will be a bunch of 3 letter codes on your receipt. There will be a terminal fee already included- do not confuse that with travel tax. I would be prepared to pay the travel tax no matter what your receipt says.

Congrats!

You might be finished in July, but yes, they will extend the validity if you aren't finished.

Correct. You might get an email from the embassy, but you do not need to wait for it. You are not short cutting anything. This is just the way it is done in Manila.

Everything in the Philippines is applicant driven. The embassy will not contact you. Just forge ahead with what needs to be done. You can track your case by entering your MNL case here: CEAC (state.gov). Select immigrant visa. "In transit" means it's still on the way. "Ready" means it is there already, waiting for you to complete the steps needed to schedule the interview. It is probably already there if you got the notice 2 weeks ago. Ine was there 2 days after I received the NVC email. First on the list is completing the DS-160, then paying for it. After that, you can start looking for interview openings. Once you have an interview date, schedule medical a week or so prior to the interview date.

Everything will be hand carried. Nothing will be uploaded except a passport style photo (as part of filling out the DS-160).

Manila typically does not even collect the I-134. You still need to have it ready, but it likely won't even be asked for. Your employment history document should be sufficient for employment verification. Bank accounts are assets. Since you are relying on income, no need for evidence of assets. Most recent tax transcript or return is required. Sending last 3 is typical and fine. No harm in sending latest W-2, but not really required unless you are in the middle of doing taxes or sending a return instead of a transcript. A few recent paystubs shows that you currently still have your job, so not a bad idea to send a few. Personally, I sent no employment verification letter and no bank information. My I-134 was not collected/reviewed.

A Texas marriage license is good anywhere in Texas, but nowhere in Mexico, border town or not. Did you report the marriage to the county clerk in Brownsville also to convert the license into a marriage certificate?

It's just a matter of a few days from "in transit" to "ready." The DS-160 is valid for 1 year after submission. The only reason some (including me) suggest waiting until "ready" is just in case there is some last-minute change you want/need to make. Hopefully you already filled everything out and are just hovering over the "review and sign" page. You are close enough to go ahead and submit and pay for it. It will take more than the advertised 4 hours for the payment to show up as valid. More like 24-36 hours. This post is only in reference to the Philippines.

Fasting is not required.

I doubt it would be very expensive to help her do this, but almost certainly there will be no profit. Your investment and periodic up-keep expenses will not be factored in as part of the cost, so to her it will seem quite profitable. For you, not so much. I would stick with quashing the idea. I've read a little about others doing similar, but the pigs got sick, which substantially increased the loss. As stated above, as long as she is not losing money, she will consider it profitable, and time well spent. Profit margins are extremely low even if you know what you are doing. If she has no experience, she (you) will lose money.

The DS-160 is intended for the beneficiary to complete, so yes, the petitioner is the fiancé.