--- a/bin/phase-helpers.sh	
+++ a/bin/phase-helpers.sh	
@@ -1094,6 +1094,7 @@ if ___eapi_has_eapply_user; then
 		local tagfile=${T}/.portage_user_patches_applied
 		[[ -f ${tagfile} ]] && return
 		>> "${tagfile}"
+		[[ *" ${FEATURES} "* == *" userpatches "* ]] || return 0
 
 		local basedir=${PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT%/}/etc/portage/patches
 
--- a/cnf/make.globals	
+++ a/cnf/make.globals	
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-docompress binpkg-dostrip binpkg-logs
           preserve-libs protect-owned qa-unresolved-soname-deps
           sandbox sfperms strict
           unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch
-          userpriv usersandbox usersync"
+          userpatches userpriv usersandbox usersync"
 
 # Ignore file collisions in /lib/modules since files inside this directory
 # are never unmerged, and therefore collisions must be ignored in order for
--- a/lib/portage/const.py	
+++ a/lib/portage/const.py	
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ SUPPORTED_FEATURES       = frozenset([
 	"unmerge-orphans",
 	"unprivileged",
 	"userfetch",
+	"userpatches",
 	"userpriv",
 	"usersandbox",
 	"usersync",