The Thai Immigration bureau said the arrests were made Tuesday after the group came to Thailand from China. The bureau says the three men and nine women were preparing for a flight to Los Angeles to look for work.

Officials say the suspects confessed to paying a Taiwanese man in Bangkok a total of $24,000 for the forged visas. An investigation found that the visas bore the same numbers as authentic ones issued by the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw to Polish citizens.

The Chinese suspects face charges that could land them in prison for up to 10 years.