A major Silicon Valley medtech company just announced it was pausing H-1B hires

• Intuitive Surgical says it’s pausing H-1B offers due to President Donald Trump’s executive order.
• It’s a sign that the new $100,000 fees are affecting how the tech industry is hiring.
• Intuitive did not respond to a request for comment.

Intuitive, a medtech giant with over 13,000 employees globally, says it is temporarily pausing offers to candidates who require H-1B visas.

It’s a clear indication that the White House’s new $100,000 H-1B fee policy, announced less than a week ago, is having a real impact on tech hiring — and not just on cash-strapped startups.

Intuitive, based in Sunnyvale, California, has a market cap of over $150 billion. It generated over $8 billion in revenue last year and is an S&P 500 member. It’s best known for its da Vinci robots, which perform minimally invasive surgeries.

The company disclosed the new H-1B policy in over 100 job listings on its careers page, attributing the decision to “uncertainty caused by the recent US executive proclamation.”

While Intuitive’s listings said the company was “temporarily” pausing H-1B offers, it didn’t mention any timeline for resuming them. The language appears across a wide array of US-based positions, from software engineers to communications.

Intuitive did not respond to a request for comment.

Intuitive’s job listings underscore the confusion rippling through corporate America after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on September 19, imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications.

The move blindsided companies across industries, triggering a weekend scramble as HR and immigration teams told employees outside the country to return within 24 hours before the order’s Sunday start date.

The White House has since clarified that current H-1B holders are not affected by the policy, which applies to new applicants from outside the country.

Intuitive has sponsored over 1,500 H-1B petitions since 2009, according to the official website of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

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