Amazon is temporarily relaxing its return-to-office rules for a small group of employees stuck overseas due to visa backlogs.
According to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider, the company is allowing staff who are currently stranded in India because of visa delays to continue working remotely from there until early March. The move offers short-term relief to affected workers who have been unable to return to the United States on schedule, even as Amazon has otherwise pushed ahead with tighter in-office expectations.
The memo suggests the exception is narrowly tailored to address immigration-related disruptions, rather than signaling any broader shift in Amazon’s remote work policy, as per in an exclusive shared with BI.
READ: H-1B visa delays push Indian applicants from January to September 2026 (
There is, however, a significant limitation to the arrangement. While these employees can continue working from India, they are barred from writing code, taking part in strategic decision-making, or engaging directly with customers during this period.
Amazon is not alone in facing the fallout. Across corporate America, companies are struggling to adjust to the Trump administration’s rapid and often abrupt changes to the H-1B visa program. One of the most disruptive shifts has been a requirement for consular officers to scrutinize visa applicants’ social media activity before approving visas.
That added layer of vetting has slowed processing times significantly. US embassies and consulates in several countries have pushed visa appointments back by months, in some cases leaving employees stuck abroad far longer than expected and forcing employers to improvise to keep work moving.
READ: New H-1B visa rules in effect February 2026 as DHS ends random lottery system (
The ripple effects are spreading beyond Amazon. In recent weeks, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and other major US companies have issued internal travel advisories, cautioning visa-holding employees against traveling abroad. The warnings reflect concerns that routine international trips could turn into prolonged absences, as visa renewals and reentries into the US remain mired in delays.
Under Amazon’s standard policy, employees who travel overseas for visa renewals are allowed to work remotely for up to 20 business days, a narrow carve-out from the company’s five-days-a-week, in-office requirement.
The new guidance goes further. According to the memo posted on Amazon’s internal HR portal on December 17, any employee who was in India as of December 13 and is waiting for a rescheduled visa appointment can continue working remotely until March 2. The temporary extension underscores how immigration delays are forcing even the most office-focused companies to make exceptions.