matsuki wrote:Avoiding taking time off work for a trip to immigration with her is the only reason I'm not going.
And yet it is also causing you enough concern that we are having this discussion here.
Deciding the balance is up to you, but which is the bigger concern: taking a day off work, or being without your card?
I've kept out of the discussion on the strict legalities because I know that there is such a thing as immigration agents making application on behalf of others, and they have the passports and I presume cards of their clients. There is evidently an established procedure for this -- maybe a copy of a card taken by these agents is accepted, I don't know the details. But being pragmatic, even if there is an established procedure, if it is making you uneasy, you are not forced to accept it. But it will require a workaround, like meeting your agent at the immigration office.
