Amazon's Remote Work Compromise: Why India-Based Staff Can't Code From Home

Amazon has made an unusual concession to its strict office-first policy. The tech giant is allowing employees currently stranded in India due to US visa processing delays to work remotely until early March 2025—a significant shift from its typical five-day mandatory in-office requirement.

The Visa Crisis Behind the Move

The decision stems from substantial delays in the H-1B visa program triggered by new Trump administration policies. New rules now require consular officers to conduct mandatory social media reviews of applicants, causing some visa interview slots to slip months or even years into the future. Some US embassies have rescheduled appointments as far as 2027, leaving thousands of skilled workers in visa limbo.

For Amazon, this is particularly impactful. The company filed nearly 14,800 certified H-1B applications in fiscal year 2024, making it one of the largest users of the program. Many of these employees are now stuck abroad waiting for rescheduled appointments.

The Remote Work Catch: Significant Restrictions Apply

While the remote work allowance sounds generous, the fine print tells a different story. According to Amazon’s internal memo, employees working remotely from India face sweeping restrictions on their daily work:

• Coding and deployment prohibited: Employees cannot write or test code—a critical limitation for technical staff whose roles center around development
• No customer interaction: Remote workers are barred from communicating with customers
• Decision-making blocked: Strategic decisions, contract negotiations, and approvals must all occur outside of India
• Troubleshooting limitations: Problem-solving work cannot be performed remotely from Indian territory

All reviews, final decisions, and approvals must be completed by staff outside India, with no exceptions permitted under local law.

A Band-Aid Solution With Gaps

The policy leaves significant questions unanswered. What happens to employees whose visa appointments are pushed beyond March 2? What about those stranded in countries outside India? The memo offers no guidance.

For technical teams especially, these restrictions essentially render remote work meaningless—they’re allowed to work from home but prohibited from doing the core technical work their positions require. It’s a classic policy that addresses the optics of the situation without solving the underlying problem.

Amazon’s approach reflects the broader chaos in the visa system right now, and how even the world’s largest tech companies are struggling to adapt to rapidly shifting immigration policies.