A method for operating a user equipment (UE) comprises receiving configuration information including P>1 beam switching time (BST) values and a set of TCI states; receiving, based on the configuration information, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state update; determining a beam based on the TCI state update; and applying the beam for a downlink (DL) reception or an uplink (UL) transmission, at least after a duration of time from receiving the TCI state update, wherein the duration of time is determined based on the P BST values.