US Patent Filing for Foreign Inventors and International Companies
I’m Sung Oh, a USPTO-Registered Patent Agent (Reg. No. 45,583). A large share of my clients are inventors and companies outside the United States — Italy, Bulgaria, Egypt, the UAE, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and beyond — filing US patent applications to protect their inventions in the American market. You work directly with me by email, and I file with the USPTO on your behalf.
- No US travel or US company required
- Flat fees from $950 plus the government fee — fixed before work starts
- Provisional government fee as low as $65
New USPTO rule: foreign inventors must now use a registered practitioner
As of July 20, 2026, the USPTO requires applicants and patent owners whose domicile is outside the United States or its territories to be represented by a USPTO-registered patent practitioner. The rule applies to papers submitted on or after that date, regardless of when the application was filed.
In practice, amendments, replies, and examiner interviews must involve a registered practitioner. A reply that is not properly signed will not be entered.
Foreign companies have needed a registered practitioner since 2012. What changed on July 20 is that individual foreign inventors are now covered as well.
Provisional applications are not exempt, though the practical effect is smaller, since a provisional is not examined. A registered practitioner is required for any paper in a provisional that needs processing, such as a petition.
I am a USPTO-Registered Patent Agent, Reg. No. 45,583 — verifiable on the USPTO’s public practitioner roster. That is the credential the rule requires.
Why foreign inventors should file in the US first
For AI, software, and technology inventions, the market that matters is the United States. That is where the investment happens, where the licensing deals are signed, and where infringement is litigated. There is no world patent — patents are territorial, granted country by country — so if you protect your invention in only one country, that country should be the US.
With one caveat I’ll come to at the end, I generally advise foreign inventors to file in the United States first. Three reasons.
1. The US provisional application:
The United States offers something almost no other country has. A provisional application is never examined and does not become a patent on its own, but it locks in your priority date for a government fee as low as $65, and gives you twelve months of “Patent Pending” status. It is also much faster to prepare than a full application, so you can secure your date while you continue to develop the invention, test the market, or raise money. Within those twelve months you file the non-provisional — the application that is actually examined and can issue as a patent.
2. The cost is comparable, but you pay it in stages:
A US provisional starts at $950 in flat fees, or $1,950 for complex applications covering software, AI, or security inventions. Compare that to a German national filing at roughly €390 in official fees plus about €5,000 in drafting, or a European Patent Office filing at about €1,655 to file and roughly €6,000 to reach grant. Within twelve months you will need to file the US non-provisional, which starts at $2,500, so the totals are not far apart. The difference is that the US route lets you spend it in two steps instead of one.
3. You can stop after the first step:
This is the real advantage. If during those twelve months you learn the invention isn’t worth pursuing — the market isn’t there, the prior art is against you, the funding doesn’t come — you can walk away having paid only for the provisional instead of the full amount. Filing in stages buys you the option to change your mind.
Important: before you file anywhere, check your home country’s rule. Some countries require their residents to file at home first, or to obtain a foreign filing license, before filing an application abroad. The rules vary widely — see the FAQ below for a country-by-country summary.
WIPO publishes the official country-by-country list.
I am licensed before the USPTO, not in foreign countries. Please confirm your home country’s rule with a local patent professional before filing.
Did you receive a Show Cause Order from the USPTO?
I represent applicants who have received a Show Cause Order. If you have, the first thing to understand is what happens if you do nothing.
What these orders are. The USPTO is contacting applicants whose applications were filed from the Patent Center account of someone not registered to practice before the Office. Many are foreign inventors who hired a consultant online to prepare and file. Since the start of fiscal year 2025 the USPTO has terminated more than 3,800 applications for rule violations, and in April 2026 a single final order terminated over 400 for unauthorized representation.
If you paid someone to prepare your application and that person was not a registered patent attorney or agent, your application may be in this group.
What the order demands. Five things: why the application was filed from that person’s account; who prepared the specification, claims and other legal work; any other evidence bearing on unauthorized representation; which signatures were personally inserted by the person named as signing them; and evidence that those signatures are authentic.
The last two decide the outcome. Under 37 CFR 1.4(d)(2)(i) an electronic signature must be personally inserted by the signer. Approving a document by email and letting someone else type your name does not satisfy the rule, however clearly you authorized it.
Three requirements that void a response if missed. The period is two months from the mailing date and cannot be extended. No petition for extension of time is available under 37 CFR 1.136(a). The signature must be attested by a notary public, or carry an apostille under 37 CFR 1.66. And the response must be filed through Patent Center only, because the USPTO has suspended mail, facsimile and hand delivery in these matters.
The consequence most applicants do not know.
If you do not respond, you do not simply lose the application. You lose the priority date with it.
In the leading decision in this line of cases, the sanctions under 37 CFR 11.18(c) included precluding any petition to revive, and precluding any later paper claiming benefit of the terminated application’s filing date. You cannot refile and keep your original date. Anything published in the meantime becomes prior art against you.
In that case the applicant never answered. The final order records it in one sentence: the USPTO did not receive a response.
There is no second round. One order, one response, one final decision. No reply brief, no hearing, no argument. Everything goes in a single filing.
The rules also contain the cure. The orders state there is “reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of the signature.” That phrase comes from 37 CFR 1.4(h), which lets the Office require ratification, confirmation, or evidence of authenticity, and defines confirmation as submitting a duplicate document with a proper signature.
Separately, 37 CFR 1.4(g) expressly contemplates an applicant who paid for help preparing an application, and provides disclosure as the remedy.
These are not clever arguments. They are the mechanisms the regulations name.
What I do. I am a registered patent agent, Reg. No. 45,583, and I represent foreign-domiciled applicants before the USPTO. I am currently handling Show Cause Order matters. My flat fee is $2,500 for the first response and $1,500 for each additional application in the same portfolio.
I will tell you honestly what your evidence supports and what it does not. The outcome is decided by the USPTO, not by me.
If your deadline is close, write today. Two months cannot be extended, and the work depends on evidence only you can gather.
Frequently asked questions from foreign inventors
1. Do I need a US patent attorney or agent to file, or can I file myself?
As of July 20, 2026, the USPTO requires applicants and patent owners domiciled outside the United States to be represented by a registered patent practitioner. Foreign companies have needed one since 2012; the rule now extends to individual foreign inventors as well. I am a USPTO-Registered Patent Agent, Reg. No. 45,583.
2. Does your home country allow you to file your first patent application in the US?
Some countries require their residents to file at home first, or to obtain a foreign filing license, before filing an application abroad. The rules vary widely.
Countries with broad restrictions include China, France, India, Italy, and Spain. Countries with military or defense-only restrictions include the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. Many countries have no restriction at all — including Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Brazil.
Italy is a common example: an Italian resident may file abroad if a national application was filed in Italy more than 60 days earlier and was not made subject to secrecy rules.
See WIPO’s official country-by-country list to check whether your country qualifies.
I am licensed before the USPTO, not in foreign countries. Please confirm your home country’s rule with a local patent professional before filing.
3. Do you use my invention materials to train AI models?
No. Your invention disclosures, drafts, and communications are confidential and are never used to train AI models. Where AI tools are used in drafting, they are used under settings that do not retain or train on your data, and every application is personally reviewed by a registered practitioner before filing.
4. Who actually reviews and files my application?
I do — Sung Oh, USPTO-Registered Patent Agent, Reg. No. 45,583, verifiable on the USPTO’s public practitioner roster. Every application is reviewed, refined, and filed by me personally. This is not an AI-only drafting service.
5. Will I receive the official USPTO filing receipt?
Yes. After filing you receive the official USPTO electronic filing receipt showing your application number and filing date. That is your proof of Patent Pending status.
6. How long does it take to prepare and file my application?
A provisional application typically takes about two weeks from the time I receive your complete invention disclosure or AI-assisted draft. A non-provisional typically takes about three weeks. Your timeline is confirmed at the free consultation before work begins.
7. What payment methods do you accept from international clients?
I accept international wire transfer and ACH, credit and debit cards through Stripe, and Zelle for US-based payments. Full payment details are provided on your invoice once we’ve agreed on scope. Fees are quoted in US dollars.
8. Do foreign inventors qualify for reduced USPTO fees?
Often, yes. Most individual foreign inventors and small foreign companies qualify as a small entity, which reduces government fees by 60%, or a micro entity, which reduces them by 80% — bringing the provisional government fee as low as $65. Eligibility depends on income and the number of prior US applications. I confirm your entity status as part of intake.
9. Can a foreign company be the applicant or assignee on a US patent application?
Yes. A company based anywhere — Italy, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, the UAE, or elsewhere — can be the applicant or assignee, with the individual inventors named as inventors. There is no US-residency or US-entity requirement. I prepare the assignment paperwork as part of the filing.
10. How would we work together on your patent application?
Under the Hybrid Model, you bring the technical knowledge — you know your invention better than anyone. You can draft a first pass with AI tools if you like. I then search, refine the claims, prepare the drawings, and file with the USPTO.
Everything happens by email, on your schedule and in your time zone. You receive the official USPTO electronic filing receipt showing your application number and filing date — your proof of Patent Pending status.
A foreign company can be the applicant on a US patent application, with the individual inventors named as inventors. There is no US-residency or US-entity requirement. I prepare the assignment paperwork as part of the filing.
11. What is a USPTO Show Cause Order?
An order asking you to explain why the USPTO should not impose sanctions under 37 CFR 11.18(c) on your application. It is usually issued because the application was filed from the Patent Center account of someone not registered to practice before the Office.
12. How long do I have to respond?
Two months from the mailing date printed on the order, not from the date of the email notification. It cannot be extended.
13. What happens if I ignore it?
The USPTO may terminate the proceedings. In the leading case the sanctions also barred any petition to revive and barred any later application from claiming benefit of that filing date. The priority date is lost, not just the application.
14. I signed everything myself. Am I still affected?
Possibly. The rule requires an electronic signature to be personally inserted by the signer. If you approved a document and someone else typed your name into it, the rule was not met even though you authorized it.
15. Can a patent agent handle this, or do I need an attorney?
A registered patent agent may prepare and file the response, because it is a paper filed in your application. The response requires a sworn statement, and I recommend having a US attorney review that before you sign.
16. I hired a consultant online. Was that allowed?
You may file and prosecute your own application. You may not pay an unregistered third party to prepare and prosecute it, because the rules treat that as representation even when you sign and file yourself.
Ready to protect your invention in the US market?
Send me a message and I’ll reply by email, usually the same day.
