Little character shown by husband in corporation occupying permanent residence (3,5)
I believe the answer is:
tom thumb
'little character' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'husband in corporation occupying permanent residence' is the wordplay.
'husband' becomes 'h' (abbreviation).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'corporation' becomes 'tum' ('corporation' can humorously mean belly fat).
'occupying' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters occupy or enter the word).
'permanent residence' becomes 'tomb' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'h' inserted within 'tum' is 'thum'.
'thum' going into 'tomb' is 'TOM THUMB'.
'shown by' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tom thumb that I've seen before include "Tiny child of fairy tale" , "General" , "Tiny hero of nursery tale - digital?" , "Diminutive person" , "He was no bigger than his father's thick finger" .)