Amazon Lets Stranded India Staff Work Remotely, But Bans Coding And Key Decisions

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(RTTNews) - Amazon (AMZN) has temporarily allowed some employees stuck in India due to US visa delays to work remotely until early March, granting a rare exception to its mandatory five-day in-office policy.

According to an internal memo, any Amazon employee who was in India as of December 13 and is waiting for a rescheduled visa appointment may work remotely until March 2. The move follows widespread processing delays triggered by new Trump administration rules on the H-1B visa program, including mandatory reviews of applicants' social media by consular officers, which have pushed some visa appointments back by months or even years.

However, the remote work permission comes with strict limitations. Employees working from India are prohibited from writing or testing code, troubleshooting, making strategic decisions, interacting with customers, negotiating or signing contracts, or visiting Amazon offices. All reviews, final decisions, and approvals must be completed outside India, with no exceptions under local law.

The memo offers no guidance for staff whose visa interviews are delayed beyond March 2 or for those stranded in other countries. Several US embassies have reportedly rescheduled visa appointments as far out as 2027, leaving many workers in limbo. The restrictions have also raised concerns among technical staff, as a large portion of their roles typically involves coding and deployment work.

The visa disruptions are particularly significant for Amazon, one of the largest users of the H-1B program, which filed nearly 14,800 certified H-1B applications in the 2024 fiscal year, including a small number for its Whole Foods unit.

Wednesday, AMZN closed after hours at $230.85, or 0.01% higher on the NasdaqGS.