Amazon has offered temporary relief to employees unable to return to the US due to prolonged H-1B visa delays, but the solution has left many workers questioning how they can meaningfully do their jobs. While the company has permitted affected staff in India to work remotely for a limited period, a sweeping set of restrictions sharply curtails what they are actually allowed to do.
According to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Amazon employees who were in India as of December 13 have been granted permission to work remotely until March 2. However, this flexibility comes with strict boundaries that effectively prevent them from performing core responsibilities tied to their roles, particularly in technical and leadership positions.
Remote Work Allowed, But…
Under the temporary arrangement, employees working from India are barred from coding, testing, troubleshooting, or even documenting software. They are also prohibited from making strategic decisions, negotiating contracts, or engaging directly with customers. In addition, they cannot sign agreements, hire staff, visit Amazon offices, or manage vendor and partner relationships. Any final approvals or decision-making must be handled outside India, as per the report.
Amazon has attributed these restrictions to compliance requirements under local laws. Still, the limitations have raised concerns internally, as many roles, especially in engineering, are built almost entirely around the very tasks employees are now forbidden to perform, states the report.
Engineers Question The Practicality Of The Policy
For software engineers and other technical staff, the rules have sparked confusion and frustration. “Seventy to eighty per cent of my job is coding, testing, deploying, and documenting,” one Amazon software engineer told Business Insider, underscoring how little room the policy leaves for productive work.
The move represents a rare deviation from Amazon’s otherwise rigid return-to-office policy, which mandates five days a week in the office. Typically, the company allows just 20 business days of remote work for employees awaiting visa renewals, making this extension notable, but also unusually restrictive, states the report.
Visa Backlogs Triggered By Stricter US Screening
The root of the issue lies in expanded H-1B visa screening measures introduced under the Trump administration. In early December, the US State Department announced that consular officers must review social media profiles of all H-1B applicants before approving visas. This added layer of scrutiny has significantly slowed processing times, with some visa appointments reportedly being pushed as far out as 2027.
Amazon is among the largest corporate users of the H-1B program, having filed 14,783 certified applications during the 2024 fiscal year. Other major tech firms, including Google, Apple, and Microsoft, have also cautioned visa-holding employees against international travel due to similar risks of being stranded abroad.
Notably, Amazon’s memo does not clarify what will happen after March 2 for employees still awaiting visa appointments, nor does it address workers stuck in countries other than India, leaving many facing continued uncertainty.
