can type effect main program globals?

your code is already correct. Only the scope you try to access it (Tmenu.menutimer) does not exist because the global is not defined within the type but in the program itself

global menutimer = millisecs()

type trala
   method reloadtimer()
      menutimer = millisecs()
   end method
end type

local a:trala = new trala
a.reloadtimer