What is the status of a patent application after a notice of allowance is mailed?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

Once a nonprovisional patent application has been examined and determined to meet all statutory requirements, a notice of allowance is sent to the applicant. The status of the application is then considered “allowed” or “in issue”. As per MPEP 203.04:

An “allowed” nonprovisional application or an application “in issue” is one which has been examined and determined to meet all statutory requirements, and in which a notice of allowance has been sent to the applicant. Its status as an “allowed” application continues from the date of the notice of allowance until it issues as a patent, unless it is withdrawn from issue (37 CFR 1.313), or becomes abandoned for failure to pay the issue fee and any required publication fee (37 CFR 1.314 and 1.316).