How a US Provisional Patent Works, and What Its 12-Month Clock Costs
A US provisional patent sets a filing date for a few hundred dollars, but the clock for the full application starts that day. Here is how the deadline and fees work.
A founder with an invention can file a provisional utility or plant patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) before paying for a full patent application. It is a lower-cost first patent filing, and it fixes a filing date that a later application can rely on. It is not examined on its merits.
The rules come from federal statute, from the regulations that set fees, and from the USPTO fee schedule, which took effect on 19 January 2025 and was last revised on 14 August 2026. The sections below explain what the filing establishes, the deadline that follows it, and what each stage costs at the published amounts.
Where the Rules and Fees Come From
The priority rule sits in 35 U.S.C. § 119(e). It says a nonprovisional application that properly claims a provisional receives that provisional's effect, as though it had been filed on the provisional's filing date for the invention in question. The same subsection sets the 12-month limit and the two-month extension, so the statute governs the deadline itself.
Fees are set by regulation. The fee schedule ties each amount to a rule in Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations, such as 37 CFR 1.16 for the basic filing fee and the provisional filing fee, and 37 CFR 1.17 for petition fees. A reader who wants to check a figure can match its fee code to the rule that creates it.
What a Provisional Application Establishes
The USPTO treats a provisional application as filed on the date it receives a written description and any drawings the invention needs. To be complete, the filing also needs the filing fee and a cover sheet or Application Data Sheet that identifies it as a provisional.
The office does not examine a provisional on its merits. Its main effect is the date. A later nonprovisional application receives that earlier date only for subject matter the provisional supports, so the description filed first decides how much of the later application can rely on it.
The USPTO guidance also says that if the basic filing fee or cover sheet arrives after the filing date, a surcharge applies. Getting those items in with the original filing avoids that added cost.
The 12-Month Deadline and Its Two-Month Extension
Under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), a nonprovisional application claiming the provisional must be filed not later than 12 months after the provisional was filed. The USPTO's guidance says the provisional is automatically abandoned 12 months after its filing date. The same guidance says the 12-month period is not counted toward the 20-year term of a patent granted on a later nonprovisional application that claims it.
The statute lets the Director prescribe regulations under which the 12-month period may be extended by an additional two months if the delay was unintentional, and it says those regulations may include payment of the fee specified in section 41(a)(7). The fee schedule lists a $2,260 undiscounted petition fee under 37 CFR 1.17(m)(3) for extending the twelve-month period for filing a subsequent application.
The extension is limited to unintentional delay, so the planning date is the 12-month mark, not the end of the extension period.
What Each Filing Costs at Published Rates
The undiscounted provisional filing fee is $325 under fee code 1005. A nonprovisional utility application carries three base fees at undiscounted rates: a $350 basic filing fee, a $770 search fee and an $880 examination fee. Those three add up to $2,000.
For the provisional and basic filing fees, the small entity amounts are 40% of the undiscounted figure and the micro entity amounts are 20%. On that basis the provisional fee is $130 for a small entity and $65 for a micro entity, and the basic filing fee is $140 and $70 respectively.
The schedule also lists a $70 small-entity line under fee code 4011, which it says can be used through Patent Center. That line is for electronic filing by small entities; the $140 line under fee code 1011 is the basic filing fee for utility applications.
A nonprovisional utility application filed on paper adds a $400 non-electronic filing fee under fee code 1090, on top of the filing, search and examination fees. The USPTO guidance says provisional applications avoid that charge, so a provisional can be mailed or hand-delivered without it.
“A provisional application is not examined on its merits.”
Sequencing From Provisional to Nonprovisional
The usual sequence has three steps: a provisional filing, a nonprovisional application within 12 months, and examination of the nonprovisional. Only the nonprovisional is examined on its merits. A founder who files a provisional and stops there holds a filing date, not an examined patent.
The description filed first sets what the later application can claim with the earlier date. Features the team expects to claim later should therefore appear in the provisional, not only the version under development this quarter.
Because the deadline comes from statute and abandonment is automatic, the filing date and the 12-month date are worth recording on the same calendar entry at the moment of filing. The two-month extension depends on an unintentional delay, so it should not be the date a team plans around.
Budgeting the Full Path
Put the figures side by side. At undiscounted rates, the provisional costs $325 and the three nonprovisional base fees add $2,000, for a total of $2,325. A small entity pays $130 and $800, or $930. A micro entity pays $65 and $400, or $465.
Neither total includes the two-month extension petition or the $400 non-electronic filing fee. Both are separate charges that apply only in the circumstances described above.
The schedule was last revised on 14 August 2026. The amounts in this article reflect that version, and anyone filing should confirm them on the USPTO site on the filing date.
