Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Mona graduated from the University of Northumbria in England in 1990. She was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1993, and to the New York Bar and the United States Federal Bar in 1997.
Before relocating to New York, Mona trained with several firms in England and was appointed a Crown Prosecutor with the British Crown Prosecution Service. In 1998, she founded Mona Shah & Partners Global (“MSP Global”), the firm she continues to lead today, bringing more than 30 years of legal experience across two jurisdictions to every matter.
Widely recognized as an industry leader in EB-5 law, Mona has been voted one of the Top 25 EB-5 Attorneys by EB-5 Investors Magazine for eleven consecutive years, and has been named a Top Lawyer by Who’s Who International and a Top Attorney of North America.
Mona’s EB-5 practice began in 2006. She was one of four original founders of the first regional center in New York, the New York City Regional Center, and subsequently founded the New York Immigration Fund, the state’s second regional center. Today, MSP Global structures and manages EB-5 project work for direct and regional center offerings across multiple industries, troubleshoots problematic cases for attorneys and regional centers, and represents EB-5 investor petitioners worldwide. Within the industry, Mona is known for taking on projects in unique and novel sectors and for facing complex challenges head on.
Mona’s litigation experience is substantial. She has represented clients in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels, in over nine states and the District of Columbia, and has handled complex immigration appeals before the United States Circuit Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits. Her practice also encompasses alternative dispute resolution. Her broader command of U.S. immigration law extends from specialist business petitions to multi-issue deportation and removal litigation, as well as the corporate and securities dimensions of EB-5 petitions.
A prolific author and commentator, Mona serves as a LexisNexis Practice Advisory Editor and has published extensively on EB-5 immigration law and its corporate and securities aspects. She is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences in the United States and abroad, has been interviewed on Al Jazeera and Fox Business News, and has been quoted in The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Economist, The Real Deal, Axios, Bloomberg, Khaleej Times (UAE), and Arab News, among other major publications. Her work has been featured on the covers of Biz-Life and EB-5 Supermarket.
Mona pioneered and continues to host the first and longest-running podcast series dedicated to EB-5 and global residency and citizenship by investment programs, now spanning over a decade and also covering foreign direct investment. Various professional and non-profit organizations have honored her for her contributions to the field.
Mona also advises on residency and citizenship by investment (RCBI) programs globally, helping investor clients identify the right jurisdiction and structure for their long-term mobility planning. Mona serves on the Public Policy Committee of IIUSA and is a part-time Adjunct Professor at the Business School of Baruch College, City University of New York, where she has taught EB-5 law. She maintains active membership in legal organizations on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Law Society of England and Wales, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Federal Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, and the International Bar Association
