I submitted a major revision of my manuscript on March 12th and the manuscript's status changed to "Editor Assigned" on March 19th. The journal does not allow a second "major revision," so I'm awaiting a final accept or reject decision, which I've been advised will be provided from the editor as soon as possible.
Can I ask for the decision now?
I really really need an answer for a grant application
You can always ask but from my experience you will just a get a copy&paste answer with the status from the journal website.
Putting too much pressure (many emails) on the editor might also have negative effects on the outcome of the decision (if the manuscript is a borderline case).
Concerning your specific situtation with the grant application: You can put the paper as "in revision" into the grant application.
@ "Can I ask for the manuscript's status before I'm sent the answer?" - You will just get an answer with the official status. I doubt that they will give away their decision via email before the official decision.
Update! First, thank you to the people that responded. Actually, I was very anxious about the grant application but after reading your responses I just let the paper go through the process. It really was a short period of time to ask and I probably would have received a pre-written e-mail with no useful information. In April 20th I received the answer: "minor revisions" this time. Pretty fast after all and specially after everything I´ve read about people waiting for months for an answer. So, fingers crossed, I hope it’s going to be accepted.
It is only three weeks since you submitted the revised version. The editor may not yet have looked at your submission and made a decision on the submission (whether to invite the reviewers to review your revised submission or other decision deemed necessary). The editor may be handling several manuscripts (and may have many other responsibilities) and may not process your revised manuscript so soon. Getting "answer from the editor as soon as possible" is relative - it could be days or weeks. Better to wait patiently unless the status of the submission doesn't change for too long.
Not a good idea: it's only been three weeks since you submitted the revision, and if the editor is inviting reviewers, that's too short a time for the reviewers to finish their reviews.
It's unfortunate that you really, really need a decision now, but if you press for one, you put the editor in a bind. They effectively have to make a decision now without the reviews. If they aren't an expert on the topic itself, it would come down to this question: would you rather publish a potentially flawed paper, or reject a potentially good one? That's not an easy question and different people will reach different answers; however, if you believe your paper is good and will pass the second round of review, there's no need to risk the editor falling in the latter camp.
tl; dr: wait however long it took for the reviewers to finish the reviews in the first round of review before asking for a decision.
