In order to be egible for an upgrade at QR you need:
3 years in the company as pilot (this is a company requirment for upgrades AND fleet transfers)
5000Hrs TT
Rather heavy requirments these days, especially with a whole bunch of young FOs almost ready to upgrade...
Off course DECs cause a lot of difficulties as well.....However QR is not ready yet to provide the pool of captains solely through upgrades so this is the only option they actually have....
We can only hope this will change once the airline is at speed...