My boyfriend of 3 yrs now is having trouble with residency status in
the U.S. His parents are not citizens and he was born in their native
country of Pakistan. He has lived here with his parents since he was
about 8 yrs old, he is now 26 yrs old. His Parents have a Buisness
visa and own a video store. He has a student visa, however is looking
to get his permanent residency. His dad's lawyer has told him he can
only stay in the US by switching to a buisness visa or by getting
married. His dad is in the process of getting his green card, and I
have found information stating since he is close family my boyfriend
should be able to get his green card with his parents petition.
However his dad goes with the advice of this one lawyer.

I have also heard that if you have lived in the US for 10 yrs or more
legally then you are eligible for permenant residency, however I can't
find any information on this. Does anyone know if this is true? And
possibly what options he does have?

HI,
THis is no legal or professional advice, as you can read in the
disclaimer below, and it is also not an "answer" to your question,
which only a G-A researcher with a blue name can post.

This is the government website on immigration on what seems to be the
applicable page:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/LPReligibility.htm

This seems to be appropriate to your friend's situation(scroll down to
find it on the above page:

"For the unmarried son or daughter (over 21 years of age) of a US
Citizen, brother or sister of a US Citizen, or the spouse or children
of lawful permanent residents, visa numbers are limited by law every
year. This means that even if the USCIS approves an immigrant visa
petition for you, you may not get an immigrant visa number
immediately. In some cases, several years could pass between the time
the USCIS approves your immigrant visa petition and the State
Department gives you an immigrant visa number. For more information on
visa numbers, please see How Do I Get an Immigrant Visa Number?"

I won't venture any interpretation.  When reading on this site, keep
in mind the heading for the section, which may be "not eligible" after
a list of points about situations about who is eligible.  Also, when
speaking of "children" on this site, in some sections it is made clear
that that children over 21 years are not eligible or eligible under
different conditions.

Click on FAQS at the top of the page to look elsewhere.
Please note, the USCIS warns about lawyers' websites  - but not about
lawyers in general.

Good luck to you and your friend, Myoarin

I understand legal advice is not given on this site and I am very
familur with the website you had given me. I guess my question really
is about how else he would be able to receive residency besides a
petition from his father. (since his father is in the process of
getting a green card and should have it with in the yr) You see his
father refuses to talk to another lawyer then the one stating his
father can't sponsor him. Even when I presented that website to him.
I'm also curious about the advice I was given from another friend, who
stated if a person has lived in the US legally for 10 yrs they are
eligible for a green card. I can't find any information on this.

I suspect you can't find anything on that ten year rule because it
does not exist. If it did, you would get hits.  In 1996 or 1997, a
vicious Federal Attorney in Iowa started filing criminal charges
againsts illegals, letting them go back to Mexico if they never came
back.

In his majesty, he took a man, and a woman in a separate case, who had
been taken to Iowa by their parents when they were very young. They
stayed and grew up and had children. He deported them on pain of
prison if they came back.

The woman spent her last days in the country frantically trying to
find someone to care for her babies.

The man slipped back to take care of his family, was caught, and was
sent to Federal prison.

In both cases, they had been in the US more than ten years.

I have to ask. Are we such a weak nation we must go to these extremes?
Is that what we stand for?