Thanks so much Dani1983 and FLgator86 for your information, it is extremely useful to me!
I really do hope you both get an answer soon!!
Is it possible to send the passport back to VFS from the UK and have it sent back or to an address in USA and they could send it back?
Jacob, I'm glad you've found this useful. Kudos to Dani for starting up this thread!
Since they've gone out of their way to prevent people from calling, I asked VFS by email whether I could travel and how long I had to send in my passport. They sort of half replied and in doing so, answered your question. I've copied their response below:
Dear applicant,
We mentioned before that that Settlement decision is done by the UK in Sheffield. They are the only ones that will be able to let you know the status of your application; also let you know what your final decision will be. We also mentioned that when your decision is made you will be contacted via the email address used on your application, once we receive your visa we will let you know to please send us your passport at your earliest convenience. It is understood that you will like to travel for the holidays, please remember we can only hold your visa and wait for your passport to be sent to us for your vignette to be placed in your passport. The time line also varies on an applicant case; your application is put on top of the queue and will be processed in an expedited manner. Also please note we can only send your passport to a residential address here in the U.S, we do not ship packages international.
As you'll note, they very specifically said they wouldn't mail it internationally. They didn't actually answer my question and specify how long they could hold my visa. I've asked again with more detail, if upon getting a decision, I could send in my passport a week or two later.
I'll post their reply, considering some folks might be interested in the gold service because they can hold onto their passport while the visa application is being processed abroad. It was certainly a motivating factor for us! I'm still hoping that this'll be a moot point and we'll both hear back very soon!