diff --git a/fsmonitor.c b/fsmonitor.c
index e1229c289c..57d6a483be 100644
--- a/fsmonitor.c
+++ b/fsmonitor.c
@@ -580,6 +580,8 @@ void tweak_fsmonitor(struct index_state *istate)
 		if (fsmonitor_enabled) {
 			/* Mark all entries valid */
 			for (i = 0; i < istate->cache_nr; i++) {
+				if (S_ISGITLINK(istate->cache[i]->ce_mode))
+					continue;
 				istate->cache[i]->ce_flags |= CE_FSMONITOR_VALID;
 			}
 
diff --git a/fsmonitor.h b/fsmonitor.h
index 3f41f65369..edf7ce5203 100644
--- a/fsmonitor.h
+++ b/fsmonitor.h
@@ -68,6 +68,15 @@ static inline int is_fsmonitor_refreshed(const struct index_state *istate)
  * Set the given cache entries CE_FSMONITOR_VALID bit. This should be
  * called any time the cache entry has been updated to reflect the
  * current state of the file on disk.
+ *
+ * However, never mark submodules as valid.  When commands like "git
+ * status" run they might need to recurse into the submodule (using a
+ * child process) to get a summary of the submodule state.  We don't
+ * have (and don't want to create) the facility to translate every
+ * FS event that we receive and that happens to be deep inside of a
+ * submodule back to the submodule root, so we cannot correctly keep
+ * track of this bit on the gitlink directory.  Therefore, we never
+ * set it on submodules.
  */
 static inline void mark_fsmonitor_valid(struct index_state *istate, struct cache_entry *ce)
 {
@@ -75,6 +84,8 @@ static inline void mark_fsmonitor_valid(struct index_state *istate, struct cache
 
 	if (fsm_mode > FSMONITOR_MODE_DISABLED &&
 	    !(ce->ce_flags & CE_FSMONITOR_VALID)) {
+		if (S_ISGITLINK(ce->ce_mode))
+			return;
 		istate->cache_changed = 1;
 		ce->ce_flags |= CE_FSMONITOR_VALID;
 		trace_printf_key(&trace_fsmonitor, "mark_fsmonitor_clean '%s'", ce->name);
diff --git a/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh b/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh
index 3bc335b891..cf4fb72c3f 100755
--- a/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh
+++ b/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh
@@ -721,4 +721,115 @@ do
 	'
 done
 
+# Test fsmonitor interaction with submodules.
+#
+# If we start the daemon in the super, it will see FS events for
+# everything in the working directory cone and this includes any
+# files/directories contained *within* the submodules.
+#
+# A `git status` at top level will get events for items within the
+# submodule and ignore them, since they aren't named in the index
+# of the super repo.  This makes the fsmonitor response a little
+# noisy, but it doesn't alter the correctness of the state of the
+# super-proper.
+#
+# When we have submodules, `git status` normally does a recursive
+# status on each of the submodules and adds a summary row for any
+# dirty submodules.  (See the "S..." bits in porcelain V2 output.)
+#
+# It is therefore important that the top level status not be tricked
+# by the FSMonitor response to skip those recursive calls.  That is,
+# even if FSMonitor says that the mtime of the submodule directory
+# hasn't changed and it could be implicitly marked valid, we must
+# not take that shortcut.  We need to force the recusion into the
+# submodule so that we get a summary of the status *within* the
+# submodule.
+
+create_super () {
+	super="$1" &&
+
+	git init "$super" &&
+	echo x >"$super/file_1" &&
+	echo y >"$super/file_2" &&
+	echo z >"$super/file_3" &&
+	mkdir "$super/dir_1" &&
+	echo a >"$super/dir_1/file_11" &&
+	echo b >"$super/dir_1/file_12" &&
+	mkdir "$super/dir_1/dir_2" &&
+	echo a >"$super/dir_1/dir_2/file_21" &&
+	echo b >"$super/dir_1/dir_2/file_22" &&
+	git -C "$super" add . &&
+	git -C "$super" commit -m "initial $super commit"
+}
+
+create_sub () {
+	sub="$1" &&
+
+	git init "$sub" &&
+	echo x >"$sub/file_x" &&
+	echo y >"$sub/file_y" &&
+	echo z >"$sub/file_z" &&
+	mkdir "$sub/dir_x" &&
+	echo a >"$sub/dir_x/file_a" &&
+	echo b >"$sub/dir_x/file_b" &&
+	mkdir "$sub/dir_x/dir_y" &&
+	echo a >"$sub/dir_x/dir_y/file_a" &&
+	echo b >"$sub/dir_x/dir_y/file_b" &&
+	git -C "$sub" add . &&
+	git -C "$sub" commit -m "initial $sub commit"
+}
+
+my_match_and_clean () {
+	git -C super --no-optional-locks status --porcelain=v2 >actual.with &&
+	git -C super --no-optional-locks -c core.fsmonitor=false \
+		status --porcelain=v2 >actual.without &&
+	test_cmp actual.with actual.without &&
+
+	git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub reset --hard &&
+	git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub clean -d -f
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'submodule always visited' '
+	test_when_finished "git -C super fsmonitor--daemon stop; \
+			    rm -rf super; \
+			    rm -rf sub" &&
+
+	create_super super &&
+	create_sub sub &&
+
+	git -C super submodule add ../sub ./dir_1/dir_2/sub &&
+	git -C super commit -m "add sub" &&
+
+	start_daemon -C super &&
+	git -C super config core.fsmonitor true &&
+	git -C super update-index --fsmonitor &&
+	git -C super status &&
+
+	# Now run pairs of commands w/ and w/o FSMonitor while we make
+	# some dirt in the submodule and confirm matching output.
+
+	# Completely clean status.
+	my_match_and_clean &&
+
+	# .M S..U
+	echo z >super/dir_1/dir_2/sub/dir_x/dir_y/foobar_u &&
+	my_match_and_clean &&
+
+	# .M S.M.
+	echo z >super/dir_1/dir_2/sub/dir_x/dir_y/foobar_m &&
+	git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub add . &&
+	my_match_and_clean &&
+
+	# .M S.M.
+	echo z >>super/dir_1/dir_2/sub/dir_x/dir_y/file_a &&
+	git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub add . &&
+	my_match_and_clean &&
+
+	# .M SC..
+	echo z >>super/dir_1/dir_2/sub/dir_x/dir_y/file_a &&
+	git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub add . &&
+	git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub commit -m "SC.." &&
+	my_match_and_clean
+'
+
 test_done