Local health services, police and other relevant providers are the first points of contact. The FCDO may be able to help if you cannot get the support you need from local services. It prioritises emergencies and vulnerable people. Use the embassy’s guide to find the appropriate support or enquiry route.
For passports, visas, ETA and travel requirements, use the official guidance and online application services. If you still need help, follow the embassy’s contact guide to the appropriate service or online enquiry.
Visits to the embassy are by appointment. An honorary consul is not a passport, visa or ETA application office.
Emergency or urgent consular help
When additional consular support is needed
Hospital admission, illness or a travel problem does not by itself mean you need embassy assistance. For medical care, use Norwegian health services and contact your travel insurer if you have one.
Consular support may be appropriate if a British national is vulnerable or needs help that is not otherwise available, for example with contacting family or raising serious welfare concerns. FCDO assesses each situation, including cases involving detention, serious crime, bereavement or a wider crisis.
If consular help is urgent or an emergency, follow the embassy guide’s emergency route. For other enquiries, use its online services or enquiry route.
Specialist support for children and young people, and adults with intellectual disabilities, who may have experienced or witnessed violence or sexual abuse. The centre coordinates adapted interviews, examinations and follow-up through the police investigation. Children and concerned adults can also call for advice on weekdays, 08:00–15:00. Parkgata 3, fourth floor. This is not emergency accommodation.
If you would rather write than telephone, these services offer confidential support by chat. You do not need to wait until a problem becomes an emergency. For immediate danger, use the emergency numbers above.
English available · Abuse and violence
VO-line
For adults affected by domestic violence or abuse, and people concerned about someone else. Support is available in English and Norwegian. The English page links to the chat and its opening hours.
For children and young people who are having a difficult time at home, and adults worried about a child. English chat is available through the chat button on the service’s website. The telephone helpline, 116 111, is open around the clock.
A free, anonymous chat for worries, difficult feelings or concerns about someone else, open around the clock. The service does not confirm English availability on its information page.
These local services offer different kinds of practical support and companionship. Check current opening times and who each service can help before visiting. If you cannot afford essentials or have nowhere to stay, contact NAV for an individual assessment.
Food and social contact
Suppebilen and Huset
Suppebilen serves food and offers a friendly meeting point by Korsatunnelen. Huset, at Keiser Wilhelms gate 48, provides an indoor meeting place with simple refreshments and conversation. Check Suppebilen’s latest updates for serving days and times.
Solhøy at Giskegata 27 is a local contact for practical support. Ask what help is currently available and when to visit. Stedet Ålesund, at Spjelkavikvegen 2, is another local service within the Salvation Army’s substance-use support work.
Bymisjonssenteret at Parkgata 9 is an open, inclusive meeting place with affordable homemade meals, social activities and community events. You can visit for company as well as food. Check the centre’s page for current opening hours.
Housing support at Steinvågvegen 29 for adults over 18 with active substance-use problems, sometimes alongside mental health difficulties.
Longer-term supported housing: apply to Ålesund municipality’s allocation and coordination service (tildeling og koordinering). Blå Kors links to the municipal application routes.
Temporary accommodation: apply through NAV Ålesund, which makes an individual decision in consultation with Blå Kors. This is a targeted service, not a general walk-in shelter.
Sources and contact routes checked 6 October 2026. Availability and admission conditions may change. Most linked local pages are in Norwegian.
Espionage and recruitment by foreign intelligence services
Approaches can look like ordinary professional contact
PST explains that foreign intelligence services seek people who can provide information or access to other people. Contact may begin at a conference, through a professional relationship, or online through social media and messaging apps. Recruitment can develop gradually.
Its 2026 threat assessment describes approaches using false LinkedIn profiles and apparently legitimate requests. A person may not know who ultimately commissions the work. Relevant concerns therefore include attempts to obtain information or access under a misleading professional identity.
PST asks people with concerning information that may be relevant to its work to contact the service. Its official reporting page is the route for tips about suspected espionage, recruitment, sabotage or other national-security concerns.
PST lists offices in Ålesund and Kristiansund. The Ålesund office is at Nedre Strandgate 50, with published telephone +47 70 11 87 00. PST directs general enquiries and tips to its central channels.
This is a local information website by Sverre Olav Farstad, British Honorary Consul in Ålesund. It is separate from GOV.UK and brings together links to UK and Norwegian authorities and local services. It does not determine eligibility or provide individual legal, immigration or medical advice.
Sources are linked beside the relevant information. Content was reviewed on 5 October 2026. Availability, rules and contact details may change; the responsible service provides current information. Local entries are labelled by area and do not imply countywide coverage.
Privacy on this website
This guide has no contact form, mailing list, visitor registration or added analytics. Its pages do not store information in your browser. Links and telephone buttons take you to external services or your telephone application. The hosting provider and external websites may process technical connection data under their own policies.
Image credits
Photographers, original sources and image licences
Photographic sources are credited beside the relevant image. Where a Creative Commons licence is specified, reuse is subject to its linked conditions. Those licences do not apply to all images on this website.
Ålesund panorama and its illustrated adaptation
“Ålesund, panorama from Aksla”, Anna Anichkova (2008), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. The home-page image is an AI-assisted pen-and-watercolour adaptation, subsequently edited into monochrome blue tones, also offered under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Gange-Rolv statue, Byparken
“Rollo-Denkmal in Ålesund”, Olaf Meister (23 July 2019), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. AI-assisted pen-and-watercolour adaptation, with simplified fine detail and incidental visitors removed. The adaptation is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Klippfisk from Kristiansund
“Klippfisk.jpg”, Karl Ragnar Gjertsen. Source photograph · CC BY-SA 3.0. AI-assisted pen-and-watercolour adaptation of a 2007 photograph. The dark background was replaced with plain light paper; no location was added. This adaptation is also available under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Historical clipfish stack, Kristiansund
“Klipfiskstabel / Dried and salted cod”, Anders Beer Wilse / Norsk Teknisk Museum. Source photograph · CC BY 4.0. AI-assisted pen-and-watercolour adaptation of a historical hand-coloured slide, collection of Sparebankstiftelsen DnB NOR, Norsk Teknisk Museum, identifier DEX_W_00468. The original capture date is not given here. Fine detail is simplified. This adaptation is also available under CC BY 4.0.
Geiranger and the fjord
“Geiranger Panorama”, Frank K. / Alaskan Dude. Source photograph · CC BY 2.0. AI-assisted pen-and-watercolour adaptation of a panorama photographed in July 2007. Fine detail is simplified and light paper margins have been added. This adaptation is also available under CC BY 2.0.
Ona fishing village and lighthouse
“2010 09 06 Ona Nordøyane 160”, Frode Inge Helland. Source photograph · CC BY-SA 3.0. AI-assisted pen-and-watercolour adaptation of a photograph taken on 6 September 2010. Fine detail is simplified. This adaptation is also available under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Consular portraits and wartime photographs
Scans supplied by Sverre Olav Farstad from the Farstad collection. Portrait identities were supplied by him. Artists and photographers are not identified in the supplied material. These original scans have not been AI-restored or colourised. Archive references and any uncertain dates are noted beside the wartime photographs.
Farstadgården ornaments
The woven border uses the updated three-rib vector ornament supplied by Sverre Olav Farstad, with a repeating viewport to form a continuous band. The doorway, side and top ornaments come from his supplied Farstadgården vector series. They were reconstructed from photographs of Farstadgården’s plaster decoration using an AI-assisted intermediate image, then converted to editable vector paths. They are visual interpretations, not measured architectural tracings. The source photographs and reference screenshots are not reproduced on this website.
NTNU and newly added organisation logos
The NTNU logo, designed by NTNU and Bruno Oldani, is reproduced unchanged from Wikimedia Commons (marked public domain there), following NTNU’s visual guidelines. Sunnmørsposten’s logo comes from its public brand manual; Hofseth’s comes from its press resources. Logos identify the organisations discussed and do not indicate sponsorship or endorsement. Other local outlets are identified by name.
Original AI illustrations
The maritime scene and historical scenes were generated for this guide. They are illustrative interpretations rather than documentary images. Drawings adapted from photographs are credited separately above. Historical illustrations are not portraits of named people or records of particular events.
