Authorities maintained efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims. Police identified three victims of sex trafficking, including two children and one adult, compared to four in 2016. Authorities have never identified labor trafficking victims in Macau, despite reports of Indonesian officials identifying Indonesian trafficking victims in Macau during the year. Authorities had formal victim identification procedures, an operational referral processes, and standardized screening questionnaires that could guide law enforcement, immigration, and social services personnel to screen individuals vulnerable to trafficking. Officials distributed questionnaires to workers, including those in construction, to screen for trafficking; it was unclear how officials administered these questionnaires. Police and social welfare bureau (SWB) officials referred both child victims identified in 2017 to a government-funded NGO that offered shelter, counseling, and economic and medical assistance. SWB partnered with a mainland Chinese organization to escort one child victim to her home in mainland China and arranged for vocational training. The government also provided training focused on identification and protection of sex and labor trafficking victims to an increased number of social welfare, health, law enforcement, and labor officials. SWB designated shelters for female and male trafficking victims, but did not report providing shelter to any adult victims in 2017; the one adult victim identified in 2017 chose to be repatriated. The government allocated approximately 1.9 million patacas ($234,500) on victim protection services, including allocations to NGOs for service provision at shelters, compared to 1.6 million patacas ($200,000) allocated in 2016. There were no reports of victims penalized for unlawful acts committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking. Authorities generally accepted a written statement in lieu of oral testimony to encourage victim participation in the prosecution of trafficking crimes. Macau law did not provide trafficking victims with permanent residency as a legal alternative to removal to countries in which they would face retribution or hardship; however, authorities reported a policy which allowed foreign victims to reside and work in Macau on the basis of “well-founded humanitarian reasons,” but it was unclear if any victims have benefited from this policy.