Employer Letter for a Schengen Visa: UK Template (2026)

TL;DR

An employer letter is a one-page letter on headed paper confirming your job title, start date, salary, approved leave for the exact dates and return-to-work date, signed and dated by HR with contact details. It is the main evidence of your return to the UK. Letters are sent back when they lack headed paper, approved leave or a return date, or their dates do not match the trip. Copy the template below; our £99 desk checks it for you.

What the employer letter is for

Every Schengen consulate deciding a UK application is answering one question: will this person leave the Schengen area and come back to the UK? Your job answers it better than anything else, because it fixes you to a place, an income and a date. The letter turns "I have a job" into three facts the consulate can check against the rest of your file: you are employed now, your employer has agreed you can be away for these dates, and you are expected back on a named date.

It also does quiet work on the funds side. A salary stated in the letter, matching the payslips and the credits on your bank statements, tells the consulate the money in your account is yours and arrives regularly. Doubt about returning is the ground that refuses more UK applications than any other, and a thin or missing employer letter is often where that doubt starts. See Schengen visa refused from the UK.

Schengen short-stay visa key facts, 2026

Schengen short-stay visa (Type C)	2026
Visa fee (adult)	€90
Visa fee (child 6 to 11)	€45
Visa fee (child under 6)	Free
Maximum stay	90 days in any rolling 180-day period
Standard processing	15 calendar days (up to 45 in some cases)
Travel insurance, minimum cover	€30,000
Passport	Issued within 10 years; valid 3+ months beyond your trip
Member states	29 countries

What HR must include

The checklist our desk works to, and the one consulates read for:

Useful but not required: your contract type (permanent, fixed-term), hours, a sentence that your position is held open for your return, and the company registration number. Nothing in the letter should contradict the form, the payslips or the bookings.

The template, on headed paper

Copy this into an email to HR with your details filled in. Most HR teams will adapt a draft far faster than they will write one.

[Company name, address, phone, email: on headed paper]

[Date]

To: The Visa Officer
[Consulate of main destination], via [VFS Global / TLScontact / BLS International / GVC World], [city]

Re: Confirmation of employment and approved leave: [full name as in passport]

Dear Visa Officer,

I confirm that [full name] has been employed by [company name] since
[start date, month and year] in the position of [job title], on a
[permanent / fixed-term] contract. [He/She/They] currently earns a
[gross annual / monthly] salary of [amount] GBP, paid monthly into
[his/her/their] bank account.

[Full name] has been granted annual leave from [first day of leave] to
[last day of leave] inclusive for a [holiday / family visit / business
trip] to [country]. [He/She/They] is expected to return to work on
[return-to-work date], and [his/her/their] position will remain open.

Please contact me if you need anything further.

Yours faithfully,

[Signature]
[Name of signatory]
[Job title, for example HR Manager]
[Direct phone] | [Work email]

Three details carry the letter. The leave dates should start on or before your departure and end on or after your return. The return-to-work date should be the first working day after you land. The signatory should be reachable on a company phone number or email, because some consulates call.

For a business trip

Where the trip is for work, the same letter changes shape: it says the trip is for business, gives the dates and the purpose, says who pays the costs, and gives the date you return to work. It is paired with an invitation from the company you are visiting, on its headed paper, naming you, the dates, the purpose and who covers the costs. The two letters must agree with each other on dates and on who pays. The business variant is set out in Schengen visa for a business trip from the UK and the host side in invitation letters.

When your situation is not standard

• New job or probation. The letter still helps: start date, role, salary, approved leave. Add the signed contract. Say in the cover letter that the role is new.
• Part-time or two jobs. One letter per employer, each on its own headed paper, each with its own approved leave. The hours and pay should add up to what the payslips and statements show.
• Agency, bank or zero-hours work. Ask the agency for a letter confirming your registration, the period you have worked, your typical hours and pay, and that no shifts are booked for the travel dates. Add the last three months of payslips.
• NHS and care workers. The standard letter from your trust or employer does the job; attach the payslips so the salary in the letter and the credits on the statements tell one story. Health and Care Worker visa holders are covered in Schengen visa on a Skilled Worker visa.
• Students with a part-time job. The university letter is the main tie; the employer letter is a second one. See Schengen visa for international students in the UK.
• Self-employed or a company director. There is no employer to write the letter. The documents that replace it are on Schengen visa when self-employed in the UK.

What the desk's checklist asks for

On every done-for-you order the file is checked against the operator's checklist for your destination before anything is booked. The ties line reads: evidence of your ties to the UK, an employer or university letter, tenancy or property, family, and your valid UK immigration status. For an employed applicant the desk's own document guide asks for the letter on headed paper confirming job title, start date, salary, approved leave for the travel dates and the return-to-work date, or instead, or as well, the signed contract of employment showing name, employer, job title, start date and salary. For a business trip it adds the invitation from the host company.

The desk sends a letter back for three reasons: it is not on headed paper, it has no approved leave or no return date, or its dates do not match the trip. A letter that fails one of those is not a small problem to fix at the counter; the visa centre checks the file there, and an incomplete submission can mean rebooking the slot.

Put it in the file

The employer letter goes in the ties section of the standard Schengen document set, next to your tenancy, your family evidence and your UK status proof. Your cover letter should point at it by name: "my employer has approved my leave and expects me back at work on [date], as the enclosed letter confirms". Add the last three months of payslips so the salary in the letter is visible on the page, and your bank statements so the credits match.

Build the list with the checklist generator, then assemble and size the file with the Bundler and Compressor.

The £99 prepared file

Our desk prepares the whole application for a flat £99 service fee, any country: the form, the document pack with your employer letter checked against the payslips, statements and bookings, and the appointment on the operator's official system in your own name. If the letter is missing something, the desk tells you exactly what to ask HR for before the file is booked. Ready within 24 hours of your complete documents and details, booked within 3 working days of a complete file, subject to availability, or the fee back. You pay the consulate fee of 90 euros, about 81 pounds, and the centre fee at the centre; the consulate alone decides. Start at the plan step, or read what the Schengen visa service does and does not include.