Validation on Contact Object

Hi All,

   We have two fields in CONTACT object

        Status - Picklist (Active, Inactive and Merged)

        Status Check - Short Text

The validation condition is

          When contact is Active allow record to be created

           When contact is Inactive allow record to be created

            When Contact is Merged the status check field needs to be updated and cnanot be NULL.

I gave the below condition in both status and status check fields validation.When editing existing contacts validation is working fine but on creation new contacts its failing.

[<Status>]="Active" OR [<Status>]="Inactive" OR ([<Status>]="Merged" AND IfNull([<stStatus_Check_ITAG>],"XXX") IS NOT NULL)