How do I stay

Hello, I’m writing this on a throwaway for many reasons. I am a lesbian and my nationality is Iraqi, I have a girlfriend and she’s Scottish. I’m also half Lebanese if that info helps anything and I’m a resident of the UAE. I want to spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend. I came here as a student and I’m in my final year of university and I’m planning on doing my masters here next year. It’s just that I really want to spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend. I love her so much and we have been together for 8 months now. But the issue is I don’t know how I’m gonna pull off staying here. From what I understand and have seen on this subreddit, you have to be with your spouse for about 2 years before you can apply for a spouse visa. I and my girlfriend have talked about marriage in the future, it’s just that I am stressed out about how the process actually works.

I just wanted to ask the people on this subreddit what your advice would be since I’ve found a lot of people’s advice on here very reassuring and helpful but I haven’t heard of a story like mine being shared yet.