1990, Congress approved the EB-5, which allows a foreigner to gain residency if they invest 500k or 1 million, depending on the area. It is available to every state, and is like being used by them all.
In FY2010, 772 EB-5 visas were awarded to Chinese nationals, the most of any country. But total EB-5’s went down from 4,218 in 2009 to 1,885 in 2010. The EB-5 can gain permanent residence, as with other visas, but not citizenship. OTher countries where EB-5 applicants come from include South Korea, Great Britain, Iran, Mexico, and Canada.
It appears that Idaho is taking advantage of this law to sell opportunities to foreign investors because the local investors, for whatever their reason may be, are not doing it.