When can I check AVPlayerItem’s status?

I’ve got some code that creates an AVPlayerItem from a URL, the creates an AVQueuePlayer from it. If I check the player item's status after that, it's still unknown.

According to the docs, it'll remain unknown until it is associated with an AVPlayer, and then it "immediately begins enqueuing the item’s media and preparing it for playback." But checking the status right after that, I still get unknown, which tells me it’s not quite immediate.

Is there any way to test if the player item will work immediately after creation? In this case, the problem is that my app doesn't have permission, due to it being a bookmark saved in a sandboxed app.