Amazon allows limited remote work from India till March 2026 amid H-1B visa delays

Amazon has allowed a limited set of employees in India to work remotely until March 2, 2026, after prolonged delays in US visa processing disrupted their return to the country. The move marks a departure from the company’s five-day office mandate and applies to staff caught in the H-1B visa backlog, according to a Business Insider report.

The temporary policy was detailed in an internal memo posted on Amazon’s HR portal, which was reviewed by Business Insider. It applies only to employees who were already in India as of December 13, 2025, and who are still awaiting US visa appointments due to extended consular backlogs.

The report stated that many Amazon employees had travelled to India for personal reasons and were subsequently unable to secure visa appointment slots, with some dates pushed far into the future. The slow pace of H-1B processing has left thousands of foreign workers across US technology firms unable to return after overseas visits, causing mounting disruption.

Rather than placing affected employees on extended unpaid leave, Amazon has opted for a tightly regulated work-from-India arrangement. Under its standard policy, overseas remote work is permitted for no more than 20 business days, making the current concession a rare exception, the report noted.

However, the flexibility comes with strict limitations. As per the memo cited by Business Insider, employees working remotely from India are barred from coding, testing software, deploying code, or performing development and quality assurance tasks. They are also prohibited from visiting or working out of any Amazon office in India.

The memo further stated that employees cannot sign contracts, manage teams, or take part in strategic decision-making linked to Amazon’s Indian operations. All reviews and final decisions must be carried out outside India to ensure compliance with both US and Indian regulations. Amazon has informed staff that there will be no exceptions to these rules and advised them to coordinate closely with managers and HR to ensure assigned work remains within permitted limits, warning that non-compliance could lead to legal or policy breaches.

The situation is not limited to Amazon. Other technology majors, including Google, Apple and Microsoft, have reportedly advised visa-holding employees to restrict international travel amid concerns that consular delays could leave them stranded abroad for months, as per media reports.

The impact has been particularly significant for Amazon, one of the largest corporate users of the H-1B programme. In the 2024 US fiscal year, the company filed 14,783 certified H-1B applications, highlighting its dependence on foreign talent.

For affected employees, the remote work arrangement provides short-term relief. Beyond early March 2026, uncertainty persists, with no clear indication on whether visa processing timelines or corporate flexibility will improve in the near future, the report added.