Nonprovisional Patent Applications refer to a complete patent application. Provisional Patent Applications are not recommended in most cases. Provisional Applications must be followed up with a non-provisional patent application within 12 months of the filing of the Provisional Application. Most people file a provisional with the mistaken belief that they can somehow save money from the start. However, this is a false economy. The reality is that you may only save around 25% of the attorney's fees at first. However, when you have to re-file the nonprovisional, you will have to pay a lot more in the end.