Yes, I see. A friend did this in another country for a while. But he only needed to drive over the border and back again. No need for flights.

I'm still waiting for answers from HR. Is it common practice that companies help partners with business visas? There must be a solution I guess. At least in my business there are so many people abroad, and so many people's residence permits depend on the partner being in that country as well that I cannot imagine there's no solution. Legally, my partner would not be able to stay in the country we're now and could neither live in the country of my employers headquarter unless he tries to find work locally (difficult with the current economic downturn) as it's both not EU.