[Question] Status field excluded to export/import

I understand what you mean.

Initially, this module has been made in the same goal of yours : put some content from development or staging environments to production.
We decided to exclude the publication status from the import in order to be able to upload content without automatically set them visible. In this way, the contributor can check if the content has been imported correctly before publishing it.

That's the reason why we add the ability in the import interface to force publish or not the elements. Maybe it's not efficient or useful enough and this feature should be reviewed.

Considering your usage, would importing the publish status be appropriate? We would no longer have the possibility of not publishing new content, and therefore it would potentially be immediately visible, without manual verification (But maybe it is not a usual need).