Accepted undergrad schools for work visas?

Hi everyone!

I've been lucky enough to get multiple job offers from companies based in Japan that want to bring me over. We've spoken back and forth for a while, and while they are willing to do all the COE paperwork to bring me out, I don't currently have a bachelor's degree.

I completely understand that it is a requirement to get a work visa, and I'm happy to put the work in to get there. However, I'm very content in my career and see no world where a degree will help my future job prospects besides immigration.

As I have no other need for the degree, I'd love to get one as cheap as possible in any random subject, but as everyone knows, that isn't exactly easy in North America (about $25-40k CAD).

My immediate thought was to look for degrees in economically developing countries (e.g. Zimbabwe) that are nationally accredited, while also significantly cheaper, and again, are completely legitimate.

Does anyone know where to find the global institutions that Japan recognizes for immigration? Additionally, any ideas on how to get a real degree without dumping so much money on a degree I won't use are super appreciated!

Cheers :)


Just some extra info:
- At the moment, I only have 5 years of experience in my field.
- They've expressed that they're happy to wait 3-4 years for me to obtain a degree and keep me as a remote contractor until then.
- I only want a legitimate degree. I'm not trying to cheat the system here with some diploma mill.
- Unfortunately, neither company provides any financial assistance for education.

You might be misunderstanding the education requirements.

If, say, you work in IT, it's better to have a 2 year associate's degree in Computer Programming than a 4 year bachelor's degree from Zimbabwe in Psychology.

There is no requirement for a 4 year degree. You just need a degree related to your career field.

As far as I know, the minimum required is a bachelorfs degree, which might be completed in 4 years in some countries and 3 in some other countries. An associate degree in a specific field combined with some work experience might suffice in fields such as IT, but that is not the norm.

The only type of job for non-Japanese people in Japan where the field of study of your degree doesnft matter is English language teaching, if you are a native speaker of English (or equivalent) - is that what you are after?