Q: What does a status change from “under review” to “editor invited” mean?
I submitted a manuscript on 2 April 2018. The status changed to "under review" for a few months. It is now slightly more than 8 months and the status has changed to "editor invited." This status has been showing for almost two weeks now. Does that mean that editor has to invite new reviewers?
The status "Editor invited" means that an Associate Editor(AE) has been invited for your paper. It is slightly concerning that an editor would be invited after 8 months of submission. One possibility is that the "under review" status referred to the initial admin check post which a manuscript is assigned to an editor. I think you should write to the journal immediately asking for a status update. It should not ideally take 8 months to assign an editor. Under the circumstances, you can consider withdrawing your manuscript and submitting it to a rapid publication journal to avoid further delay.
Related reading:
Should I withdraw my manuscript if the Editor cannot find reviewers?