diff --git a/tools/packaging/qemu/apply_patches.sh b/tools/packaging/qemu/apply_patches.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..6cd0ef18c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/packaging/qemu/apply_patches.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2020 Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+# This script apply the needed for Kata Containers patches on QEMU.
+# Note: It should be executed from inside the QEMU source directory.
+#
+set -e
+
+script_dir="$(realpath $(dirname $0))"
+
+qemu_version="$(cat VERSION)"
+stable_branch=$(echo $qemu_version | \
+	awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="."}{print $1 "." $2 ".x"}')
+patches_dir="${script_dir}/patches/${stable_branch}"
+
+echo "Handle patches for QEMU $qemu_version (stable ${stable_branch})"
+if [ -d $patches_dir ]; then
+	for patch in $(find $patches_dir -name '*.patch'); do
+		echo "Apply $patch"
+		git apply "$patch"
+	done
+else
+	echo "No patches to apply"
+fi
diff --git a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile
index 399df608cc..d916a1140e 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile
@@ -49,23 +49,16 @@ RUN cd  .. && git clone "${QEMU_VIRTIOFS_REPO}" qemu-virtiofs
 RUN git checkout "${QEMU_VIRTIOFS_TAG}"
 
 ADD scripts/configure-hypervisor.sh /root/configure-hypervisor.sh
-ADD qemu/patches/ /root/kata_qemu_patches
+ADD qemu /root/kata_qemu
 
 # Apply experimental specific patches
 # Patches to quick fix virtiofs fork
-ENV VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR=/root/kata_qemu_patches/${QEMU_VIRTIOFS_TAG}/
+ENV VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR=/root/kata_qemu/patches/${QEMU_VIRTIOFS_TAG}/
 RUN find "${VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR}" -name '*.patch' -type f |sort -t- -k1,1n > patches_virtiofs
 RUN echo "Patches to apply for virtiofs fixes:"
 RUN cat patches_virtiofs
 RUN [ ! -s patches_virtiofs ] || git apply $(cat patches_virtiofs)
-
-RUN cat VERSION | awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="."}{print $1 "." $2 ".x"}' > stable_branch
-RUN echo "/root/kata_qemu_patches/$(cat stable_branch)/" > patches_qemu_dir
-RUN echo "patches dir $(cat patches_qemu_dir)"
-RUN find "$(cat patches_qemu_dir)" -name '*.patch' -type f |sort -t- -k1,1n > patches_qemu
-RUN echo "Patches to apply for qemu:"
-RUN cat patches_qemu
-RUN [ ! -s patches_qemu ] || git apply $(cat patches_qemu )
+RUN /root/kata_qemu/apply_patches.sh
 
 RUN PREFIX="${PREFIX}" /root/configure-hypervisor.sh -s kata-qemu | sed -e 's|--disable-seccomp||g' | xargs ./configure \
 	--with-pkgversion=kata-static
diff --git a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile
index 7608bd9681..4296e5e053 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile
@@ -48,15 +48,9 @@ RUN git clone https://github.com/qemu/capstone.git capstone
 RUN git clone https://github.com/qemu/keycodemapdb.git ui/keycodemapdb
 
 ADD scripts/configure-hypervisor.sh /root/configure-hypervisor.sh
-ADD qemu/patches/ /root/kata_qemu_patches
+ADD qemu /root/kata_qemu
 
-RUN  \
-	cat VERSION; \
-	stable_branch=$(cat VERSION | awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="."}{print $1 "." $2 ".x"}');\
-	for patch in $(find /root/kata_qemu_patches/${stable_branch}/ -name '*.patch'); do\
-		echo "apply $patch";\
-		git apply "$patch"; \
-	done
+RUN  /root/kata_qemu/apply_patches.sh
 
 RUN PREFIX="${PREFIX}" /root/configure-hypervisor.sh -s kata-qemu | xargs ./configure \
 	--with-pkgversion=kata-static