I usually use color to indicate status, as Mmm suggests. But I have also used emojis appended/included in a text field that is shown in a list view to indicate status (you can append the emoji character in script).
An emoji is a three byte text character, as part of the extended character set required by different languages such as in the Asian languages or Cyrillic. There is a standard icon associated with a particular emoji character, so if that standard emoji character is used, it should show up the same on different devices.
There are flag emojis.(🚩)