Is it even worth it to buy a Lao SIM card for a short trip? I've always bought a 7-day data roaming package for my Thai SIM card instead.
I'm sorry that I can't give you a definite answer to your question, but knowing how bureaucratic Laos can be, my best guess is that they might well insist on seeing the original. And knowing how inconsistent Laos can be (same as Thailand), it might well be different from one place to the next.