Sample certificate of employment for a Schengen visa

General list of documents for obtaining a Schengen visa

First of all, prepare the following papers:

International passport. A mandatory requirement for it is at least a 3-month supply of validity by the end of the planned trip.
Questionnaire. To be completed and signed personally by the applicant.
Photos. They must be current, no older than six months before the date of submission of documents. Quantity - from 2 to 4, depending on the country.
Justification of the purpose of the trip. Tourist vouchers, plane tickets, confirmation of a hotel reservation, or a certificate of admission to a university for students or an invitation to the country from a relative/friend are suitable here.
Guarantee of financial solvency: a certificate from the bank about the availability of free money.
Certificate from the place of employment, which states the position and income. There should also be information that during vacations and trips to a European country, a person retains a job and average earnings. Unemployed people provide a sponsorship letter on behalf of a person who takes on all financial expenses.

Sample certificate from work confirming income for a visa

The document for each item must be prepared carefully so that the embassy does not have questions in the future. This will increase your chances of getting a permit. Special attention should be paid to obtaining a certificate from your place of work for a Schengen visa.
It is worth recalling that funds for a trip to Europe are calculated by the number of days of stay: 50 euros for each day (the amount may vary depending on the country).

We confirm solvency

There are four options here:

A certificate from your place of employment indicating the amount of your salary.
A bank account statement showing the movements of funds for the last 3 months.
Certificate of ownership of real estate in the Russian Federation.
Sponsorship letter.

The first option is very convenient for those who have work. Obtaining such a certificate is not difficult. Again, the Finnish consulate will not require compliance with any single format. It is important for them that the certificate contains the exact coordinates of your employer. Finns are not interested in the size of their salary. Why? Because your trips to Finland can be one-day as part of the same tour, and such a voyage does not require a lot of money.

A certificate from your place of work may look, for example, like this:

As you can see, nothing complicated.

If there is no official work, then you need to present a bank account statement indicating the flow of funds for the last 3 months - this is the best option. You can get such a statement at a regular ATM. It is not necessary to go specifically to the bank and certify the document with a bank seal.

Of course, you can simply deposit money into your account and present a statement of funds. However, whether this will be enough for the Finns or not is a difficult question. If you have already traveled to Finland many times, then most likely they will not find fault. But if you are getting a visa for the first time, you may be asked for more detailed confirmation.

By the way, a bank account statement is enough for an ordinary pensioner. Even if your pension is less than 10 thousand rubles, this will not be a basis for refusing to issue a visa.

A certificate of ownership of real estate is an extract from Rosreestr. It is standard, you can get it through the government services website, by mail or through the MFC (the latter option is the easiest for those living in big cities). The fourth option is a sponsorship letter. It is clear that it is required when a person does not work and does not have any sources of income. This certificate is given by the one who acts as a sponsor. And again, no strict formats. Help might look something like this:

Along with such a letter, the sponsor must provide appropriate confirmation of its solvency. The same certificate from your place of work or a bank account statement will do.

You can resolve all the difficulties and difficulties with obtaining a visa on our website in the appropriate section. Believe me, there is nothing difficult in obtaining a Finnish visa, and it will still be more affordable than Spanish, Italian or Czech visas.

Boris Kovardin

Why does the Embassy need a certificate from work?

A certificate from the place of employment proves to the Embassy that the guest has no intention of staying in the country. The presence of official employment, according to visa department employees, obliges a person to return to their homeland, and also confirms income and indicates its level of financial security for traveling abroad.

It is important for Schengen countries that tourists have a good salary. This is necessary so that embassy employees are confident that the foreigner has enough funds to pay for the trip and will not be in poverty in Europe.

Scheme of work of the company and visa centers helping to obtain a Schengen visa

Where can I get a visa certificate from my place of work?

You can download a sample certificate that fully meets the criteria listed above on our portal.

You can read about issuing certificates of employment for other purposes in our materials:

“Certificate of employment - form and sample to fill out”;
“Salary certificate - sample and form in 2020”.

You can confirm our conclusions and check whether you filled out the employee’s certificate correctly. Get free trial access to ConsultantPlus, and proceed to the explanations given by the inspector of the State Labor Inspectorate in the Nizhny Novgorod region V. I. Neklyudov.

Requirements for issuing a certificate

All Schengen countries require almost the same certificates of employment for a visa. The document must be printed on the company's official letterhead in A4 format, signed by the employer (or deputy if the applicant is a director himself) and preferably the chief accountant. Everything is certified with a seal.

The help text can be written in any form.

It must contain the following data:

Company name or name of individual entrepreneur, OGRN, INN, legal address and contact phone number, website address (if available).
Details and position of the person for whom the certificate is being prepared.
The employee's length of service with the company.
A vacation schedule and assurance that the person will not be fired and his salary will remain the same.
The average salary that the applicant received over the last 3 months.
Number and date of issue of the certificate.
The purpose of the document.
The exact name of the Embassy to which the certificate is addressed. It is not recommended to write “where required”.

The Embassy or Visa Center may not accept a package of documents if at least one point is ignored.

Validity period for visa certificate

The bank certificate is valid for 30 days. If you apply for a visa later, you will need to order a new bank account statement.

Minimum wage

There are no official minimum salary requirements for issuing a Schengen visa.

Many people write and leave reviews on forums that most often in 2021, refusals occur when the amount of income is less than 25,000 - 30,000 rubles per month.

If a person has an official small salary, you need to attach to the application a statement from a bank account that has a good amount of money, preferably at least 800-1000 euros.

Why do you need a certificate?

To ensure that a person who has gone abroad does not end up in the role of a homeless person, a beggar or a thief, the diplomatic mission requires proof of his solvency . A certificate from your place of employment is one of the ways to confirm this.

Based on this, the Consulate officials conclude that:

the applicant has a permanent and stable salary;
the tourist is provided with work, or he has his own business, which he does not want to lose.

In addition to confirming financial well-being, this document serves in the eyes of the diplomatic mission staff as a guarantee that the applicant will return home upon completion of his vacation.

Recommendations for filling out the certificate

Organization information, contacts and details must be correct. Embassy staff can call and clarify information. If the answer does not coincide with what is written on paper, an automatic refusal follows. Therefore, you need to warn your colleagues about a likely call and suggest the correct answers.
It is better to do a certificate at the last moment. The date of its preparation should be very close to the date of the trip to the Embassy.
One signature is not enough for a document; at least two are needed. Instead of the chief accountant, the financial or commercial director can sign. However, you cannot sign your form yourself. The signature of a close relative, if he holds a leadership position, must be supplemented by a third one, from another responsible person.
To obtain a Schengen visa, an individual entrepreneur must prepare a certificate of registration. The copy is certified by a seal and the inscription “true copy.”
The salary figure must be real. The Embassy cannot verify it in any way, but too large amounts may raise questions. The minimum income in 2021 starts from 30–40 thousand rubles. Income should allow you to spend 50–60 euros per day on a foreign holiday.
The header of the certificate contains the most complete contact details of the company, and in the text they write complete information about the person wishing to obtain a visa.
At the bottom of the form you should indicate the author of the certificate, his position, contact information, and signature. And certify everything with a round seal. This inspires confidence on the part of the inspection authorities. To make the task easier, a sample certificate of employment can be viewed on this page of our website.

In which countries of the Schengen zone it is easier to obtain a visa, this author’s video explains.

EU embassies and provide it to the person who will process it. Typically, organizations prepare paper within three days.

Inquiries are available, the blank form is here.

Applying for a Schengen visa without a work certificate

Those who do not officially have a job can obtain a visa without a certificate. However, you will have to provide other proof of your source of income and funds for the trip.

Documents that need to be provided to officially unemployed persons

The problem of obtaining a work certificate, or rather the lack thereof, is faced by the unemployed, students and pensioners. An excellent solution to this problem would be a sponsorship letter from a working relative. A huge advantage of a sponsorship letter is that it does not need to be certified: just print it out and sign it, and also attach a copy of your passport and income certificate.

To obtain a Schengen visa, students will additionally need to provide an extract from a university or school, and pensioners will need to provide a pension certificate.

Separately, it is worth noting that relatives or friends who are citizens of the European Union, when issuing an invitation, can indicate that they will bear the financial expenses and provide a certificate from the bank and from work. In this case, the tourist will not need to additionally confirm his income.

Sample sponsorship letter in English

In English, a sponsorship letter may look like this:

Letter of sponsorship
I, Petrov Ivan Sergeevich holding passport No. 9905 732006, date of issue: 05/01/2003. Issued at police department of Moscow city. I take over the liability regarding all trip financial expenditures of my wife Petrova Olga Borisovna (passport No. 257181, issued at police department of Moscow city) for the trip to Spain during the period from 24.08.18 till 10.09.18. I understand that the above statement made by me are true and correct.
____________Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich 07/12/2018
Phone Address Email

Now preparing a sponsorship letter for a Schengen visa will be a simple formality for you. The sample provided is suitable for applying for a visa to the most popular countries among tourists - France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland and others. Have a nice trip!

About the author: Ekaterina

On the pages of my blog you will find information about the places I have been, secrets and life hacks of independent travel.

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Children

In strict order, a photocopy of the international passport of their parents is presented, which contains information about the child and photographs of the children, and a photocopy (certified by a notary) of the birth certificate. It happens that a child travels not with his parents, but perhaps with only one of them. In this case, you must definitely have a power of attorney from the parent(s), which gives permission to take the child to another country (in 2 copies).

This power of attorney is issued on a notary form and no later than 3 months before the planned departure. It certainly indicates the time of departure and arrival;
As always, photocopies of parents’ Russian passports (all pages);
A copy of the parents' marriage certificate;
Certificate from school (original).

Individual entrepreneurs

For those people who are engaged in freelancing or business, you will need to provide to the visa center, in addition to the income certificate, also a copy of the OGRN and an extract from the EGRUL.

If the tourist is an individual entrepreneur who works without an office and letterheads, then he will be asked for a copy of the OGRN certificate and a declaration with a tax service mark.

The visa application form may differ in different centers, so before submitting documents, check with the operator of the visa center where you are going for the current list.

The same documents will be asked from an employee who works for an individual entrepreneur.

Ban on traveling abroad due to debts

It is important to note that in such cases the traveler should not have any existing sanctions or bans on traveling abroad from bailiffs. Otherwise, they simply won’t let you go abroad.

Requirements for certificates in European countries

Requirements for certificates that are provided to different countries of the Schengen area may differ slightly from each other.

France

France prefers certificates written in a free style rather than strict statements like 2-NDFL.

How to get a Schengen visa to France for an individual entrepreneur is described in detail in this video.

Germany

Papers with a translation into German are welcome, and the first thing specialists look at is the employer’s contact information. They can be indicated in the header, but in addition to telephone numbers and addresses, it is better to enter the manager’s email address there. A certificate of income for Germany is an important indicator of a tourist’s financial viability; its absence may result in a refusal to issue a visa.

Greece

The Greeks do not care what form or language the documents are in; they evaluate the work certificate superficially; they look into the applicant’s bank account. To be approved, there must be at least 25 thousand rubles there.

Finland

Even an unemployed person can visit the country and not think about a work certificate at all. A piece of paper with the employer’s details, address and telephone number will be fine. They call quite often. And for the trip they ask to earn at least 3,000 rubles.

Denmark

In addition to a certificate from work, in Denmark they are sensitive to other documents for obtaining a visa. Embassy employees want to see, along with the application, a certified bank statement and a guarantee that the tourist will not be fired during his vacation. This is because there is also close attention to income. The minimum account amount for a trip is from 500 euros.

However, it should be noted that the Consulates and Embassies of any country really like it when visitors talk about themselves in great detail and with inspiration. If the maximum list of papers is provided, then it would be useful to attach a personal business card there. This will increase your trust level by several points.

You shouldn’t approach applying for a visa to a European country carelessly. And not because you can do without traveling in case of refusal. Errors in the document, unreliable and unverified data may arouse suspicion among Visa Service employees.

If, after checking, a discrepancy in any information is revealed, the visa will be denied and you will not be able to obtain permission to leave in the future. A tourist can earn a lifelong ban, a black mark on his visa history and will never have the right to cross the border of the Schengen zone.