In an unprecedented move, Amazon has granted a temporary remote work authorization for its employees stuck in India due to severe delays in H-1B visa appointments. However, this lifeline comes with a web of stringent restrictions that effectively prevent many technical workers from performing their core job duties, raising serious concerns about productivity and career impact.
A Temporary Solution with Major Strings Attached
According to an internal memo dated December 17, 2025, which was reported by Business Insider, Amazon has permitted affected employees to work remotely from India until March 2, 2026. This policy is a direct response to the massive backlog in U.S. visa processing, largely attributed to new social media screening requirements introduced during the Trump administration. These delays have pushed some visa interview appointments as far out as 2027, leaving thousands of tech professionals in limbo.
While Amazon joins other tech giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft in scrambling to address the fallout, its solution stands out as particularly restrictive. This is significant given that Amazon is the largest user of the H-1B program, having filed nearly 15,000 certified applications in fiscal year 2024.
The Crippling List of "Do Not" Directives
The company's guidance for employees working remotely from India is exhaustive in its limitations. The memo explicitly states that all coding work—including troubleshooting, testing, and documentation—must cease. For software engineers, this restriction alone can render most of their job impossible.
"Seventy to eighty percent of my job is coding, testing, deploying, and documenting," one Amazon software engineer told Business Insider, highlighting the practical dilemma.
The restrictions extend far beyond technical tasks. The comprehensive "do not" list includes:
- Working from or visiting any Amazon building or site in India.
- Making strategic business decisions, business planning, or product development.
- Negotiating or signing any contracts.
- Interacting with customers or rendering services that benefit an Amazon entity in India.
- Directing, controlling, or supervising teams based in India.
- Making hiring decisions for Amazon entities in India.
- Managing customer or vendor relationships, including pricing talks.
Critically, the memo mandates that all "final decision making and sign offs" must occur outside India to comply with local laws. All employment matters must also be handled by the employee's U.S. legal entity.
Compliance and Productivity in Question
The policy, framed as a "Temporary Remote Work Authorization," leaves managers and HR business partners (HRBPs) with the difficult task of defining what work remains for their stranded team members. The company has stated there are "no exceptions" to these restrictions due to local compliance requirements.
This situation creates a stark paradox: employees are allowed to work, but are barred from the very activities that constitute their jobs. The move is intended to maintain employment and provide income continuity while navigating the visa logjam, but it places professionals in a career purgatory where they cannot contribute meaningfully to projects or build their skills in a hands-on manner.
Amazon has directed employees to use internal support channels like asking Aza or contacting MyHR Live Support for help, and has reminded them of 24/7 resources through Resources for Living. The company says it continues to monitor the situation and will provide updates.
For now, hundreds of tech workers find themselves in a holding pattern, officially employed but functionally handicapped, waiting for a visa appointment that may be years away, all while navigating a remote work policy that questions the very definition of work itself.
