diff --git a/mod/assign/externallib.php b/mod/assign/externallib.php
index 5f4c100aa3b..58e957f6930 100644
--- a/mod/assign/externallib.php
+++ b/mod/assign/externallib.php
@@ -2688,6 +2688,7 @@ class mod_assign_external extends external_api {
                 $userdetails['submitted'] = $record->submitted;
                 $userdetails['requiregrading'] = $record->requiregrading;
                 $userdetails['grantedextension'] = $record->grantedextension;
+                $userdetails['submissionstatus'] = $record->submissionstatus;
                 if (!empty($record->groupid)) {
                     $userdetails['groupid'] = $record->groupid;
                 }
@@ -2765,6 +2766,8 @@ class mod_assign_external extends external_api {
             'submitted' => new external_value(PARAM_BOOL, 'have they submitted their assignment'),
             'requiregrading' => new external_value(PARAM_BOOL, 'is their submission waiting for grading'),
             'grantedextension' => new external_value(PARAM_BOOL, 'have they been granted an extension'),
+            'submissionstatus' => new external_value(PARAM_ALPHA, 'The submission status (new, draft, reopened or submitted).
+                Empty when not submitted.', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
             'groupid' => new external_value(PARAM_INT, 'for group assignments this is the group id', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
             'groupname' => new external_value(PARAM_NOTAGS, 'for group assignments this is the group name', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
         ];
@@ -2831,6 +2834,7 @@ class mod_assign_external extends external_api {
             'submitted' => $participant->submitted,
             'requiregrading' => $participant->requiregrading,
             'grantedextension' => $participant->grantedextension,
+            'submissionstatus' => $participant->submissionstatus,
             'blindmarking' => $assign->is_blind_marking(),
             'allowsubmissionsfromdate' => $assign->get_instance($userid)->allowsubmissionsfromdate,
             'duedate' => $assign->get_instance($userid)->duedate,
@@ -2880,6 +2884,8 @@ class mod_assign_external extends external_api {
             'duedatestr' => new external_value(PARAM_TEXT, 'duedate for the user'),
             'groupid' => new external_value(PARAM_INT, 'for group assignments this is the group id', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
             'groupname' => new external_value(PARAM_NOTAGS, 'for group assignments this is the group name', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
+            'submissionstatus' => new external_value(PARAM_ALPHA, 'The submission status (new, draft, reopened or submitted).
+                Empty when not submitted.', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
             'user' => $userdescription,
         ));
     }
diff --git a/mod/assign/locallib.php b/mod/assign/locallib.php
index 74459605667..b6276676a77 100644
--- a/mod/assign/locallib.php
+++ b/mod/assign/locallib.php
@@ -2058,6 +2058,7 @@ class assign {
             $participants[$userid]->submitted = false;
             $participants[$userid]->requiregrading = false;
             $participants[$userid]->grantedextension = false;
+            $participants[$userid]->submissionstatus = '';
         }
 
         foreach ($records as $userid => $submissioninfo) {
@@ -2065,6 +2066,7 @@ class assign {
             $submitted = false;
             $requiregrading = false;
             $grantedextension = false;
+            $submissionstatus = !empty($submissioninfo->status) ? $submissioninfo->status : '';
 
             if (!empty($submissioninfo->stime) && $submissioninfo->status == ASSIGN_SUBMISSION_STATUS_SUBMITTED) {
                 $submitted = true;
@@ -2083,6 +2085,7 @@ class assign {
             $participants[$userid]->submitted = $submitted;
             $participants[$userid]->requiregrading = $requiregrading;
             $participants[$userid]->grantedextension = $grantedextension;
+            $participants[$userid]->submissionstatus = $submissionstatus;
             if ($this->get_instance()->teamsubmission) {
                 $group = $this->get_submission_group($userid);
                 if ($group) {
diff --git a/mod/assign/tests/externallib_test.php b/mod/assign/tests/externallib_test.php
index 1042ecc4bc7..29636b3f17c 100644
--- a/mod/assign/tests/externallib_test.php
+++ b/mod/assign/tests/externallib_test.php
@@ -2475,6 +2475,7 @@ class mod_assign_external_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertFalse($result['submitted']);
         $this->assertFalse($result['requiregrading']);
         $this->assertFalse($result['grantedextension']);
+        $this->assertEquals('', $result['submissionstatus']);
         $this->assertTrue($result['blindmarking']);
         // Make sure we don't get any additional info.
         $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('user', $result);
@@ -2529,6 +2530,7 @@ class mod_assign_external_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertTrue($result['submitted']);
         $this->assertTrue($result['requiregrading']);
         $this->assertFalse($result['grantedextension']);
+        $this->assertEquals(ASSIGN_SUBMISSION_STATUS_SUBMITTED, $result['submissionstatus']);
         $this->assertFalse($result['blindmarking']);
         // Make sure we don't get any additional info.
         $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('user', $result);
@@ -2714,6 +2716,7 @@ class mod_assign_external_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertEquals($student->phone2, $participant['phone2']);
         $this->assertEquals($student->department, $participant['department']);
         $this->assertEquals($student->institution, $participant['institution']);
+        $this->assertEquals('', $participant['submissionstatus']);
         $this->assertArrayHasKey('enrolledcourses', $participant);
 
         $participants = mod_assign_external::list_participants($assignment->id, 0, '', 0, 0, false, false, true);
diff --git a/mod/assign/upgrade.txt b/mod/assign/upgrade.txt
index 4a703e6a509..d5b4cfbb962 100644
--- a/mod/assign/upgrade.txt
+++ b/mod/assign/upgrade.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ This files describes API changes in the assign code.
 * Renderer (renderer.php) has been moved from mod root to classes/output/ to be more PSR compliant.
 * Class assign_header has been moved from renderable.php to classes/ouput/assign_header.php
 * Class assign_submion_status has been moved from renderable.php to classes/ouput/assign_submion_status.php
+* The external functions mod_assign_external::list_participants and mod_assign_external::get_participant now return a new field
+  "submissionstatus" indicating the submission status (new, draft, reopened or submitted). Empty when not submitted.
 
 === 3.9 ===