Is Employer Letter Mandatory For Schengen Tourist Visa?

Hi, I am applying for Schengen visa from the UK via VFS to visit Iceland in February. I have a UK spouse visa and I'm employed.

On VFS' page (for Iceland) ( https://visa.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/ic ... k/english/ ) it says:

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5. Proof of employment or studies
- If employed o an employer’s letter on official letterhead confirming the applicants start date and continued employment and /or pay slips for the last three months.
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But on some other websites I saw the employer letter being mentioned as mandatory. It's a nuisance, so I wanted to ask if anyone knows it's okay to just supply payslips, contract etc everything other than a letter from the employer?

Also my payslips and contract are all digital / digitally signed, they mention everything needs to be original documents, bank statements to be stamped and signed etc. Would it be okay to just bring print outs of my payslips?

For more context I've travelled to the EU many times in the past, I never had a visa rejection. My most recent trip was to France 3 years ago. I will be supplying all the other documents needed, and me and my spouse (UK citizen) have sufficient funds for this trip.



I'd really appreciate any advice, many thanks in advance!

I am afraid it's mandatory. What is the problem of asking for an employee letter? The HR should be quite familiar with it because people need the letter for various reasons all the time.