<p>My parents are married, but they live in different countries. I live with my dad in the US and my mother's visa application is pending right now. Do I put "married" or "separated" as their marital status on the CSS app? I did put "married" on the commonapp.</p>
<p>while the FAFSA aks for information from the custodial parent, the profile wants information grom both parents. the answer is married (or you will have to file the profile and the non-custodial profile, so either way they must still get the information about both of your parents).</p>
<p>Even for FAFSA, this student would include both parents because their situation isn’t one of a “marital problems”. The parents aren’t “split up”. The parents are just living in two locations because of visa issues. The parents still consider themselves “a couple”. The mom will join them when her visa issues are resolved. </p>
<p>There are many reasons why a committed couple is living in two locations. They are still considered “married.” They are not considered “separated.” </p>
<p>This isn’t really even an issue of “custodial” or “non-custodial” parents. One parent could be away in the military, and he’s still a custodial parent on FAFSA if he’s married (not separated) to the “home parent”. </p>
<p>Separated is for couples that no longer want to be considered a “couple” and may be considering a divorce.</p>
<p>^Thank you, that cleared up a lot of confusion</p>