diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index b3bb59f066..b561445329 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -1477,6 +1477,7 @@ static int get_next_submodule(struct child_process *cp,
 			strbuf_release(&submodule_prefix);
 			return 1;
 		} else {
+			struct strbuf empty_submodule_path = STRBUF_INIT;
 
 			fetch_task_release(task);
 			free(task);
@@ -1485,13 +1486,17 @@ static int get_next_submodule(struct child_process *cp,
 			 * An empty directory is normal,
 			 * the submodule is not initialized
 			 */
+			strbuf_addf(&empty_submodule_path, "%s/%s/",
+							spf->r->worktree,
+							ce->name);
 			if (S_ISGITLINK(ce->ce_mode) &&
-			    !is_empty_dir(ce->name)) {
+			    !is_empty_dir(empty_submodule_path.buf)) {
 				spf->result = 1;
 				strbuf_addf(err,
 					    _("Could not access submodule '%s'\n"),
 					    ce->name);
 			}
+			strbuf_release(&empty_submodule_path);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
index dd8e423d25..666dd1e2b7 100755
--- a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
+++ b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
@@ -719,4 +719,108 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch new submodule commit intermittently referenced by sup
 	)
 '
 
+add_commit_push () {
+	dir="$1" &&
+	msg="$2" &&
+	shift 2 &&
+	git -C "$dir" add "$@" &&
+	git -C "$dir" commit -a -m "$msg" &&
+	git -C "$dir" push
+}
+
+compare_refs_in_dir () {
+	fail= &&
+	if test "x$1" = 'x!'
+	then
+		fail='!' &&
+		shift
+	fi &&
+	git -C "$1" rev-parse --verify "$2" >expect &&
+	git -C "$3" rev-parse --verify "$4" >actual &&
+	eval $fail test_cmp expect actual
+}
+
+
+test_expect_success 'setup nested submodule fetch test' '
+	# does not depend on any previous test setups
+
+	for repo in outer middle inner
+	do
+		git init --bare $repo &&
+		git clone $repo ${repo}_content &&
+		echo "$repo" >"${repo}_content/file" &&
+		add_commit_push ${repo}_content "initial" file ||
+		return 1
+	done &&
+
+	git clone outer A &&
+	git -C A submodule add "$pwd/middle" &&
+	git -C A/middle/ submodule add "$pwd/inner" &&
+	add_commit_push A/middle/ "adding inner sub" .gitmodules inner &&
+	add_commit_push A/ "adding middle sub" .gitmodules middle &&
+
+	git clone outer B &&
+	git -C B/ submodule update --init middle &&
+
+	compare_refs_in_dir A HEAD B HEAD &&
+	compare_refs_in_dir A/middle HEAD B/middle HEAD &&
+	test_path_is_file B/file &&
+	test_path_is_file B/middle/file &&
+	test_path_is_missing B/middle/inner/file &&
+
+	echo "change on inner repo of A" >"A/middle/inner/file" &&
+	add_commit_push A/middle/inner "change on inner" file &&
+	add_commit_push A/middle "change on inner" inner &&
+	add_commit_push A "change on inner" middle
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'fetching a superproject containing an uninitialized sub/sub project' '
+	# depends on previous test for setup
+
+	git -C B/ fetch &&
+	compare_refs_in_dir A origin/master B origin/master
+'
+
+
+test_expect_success 'setup recursive fetch with uninit submodule' '
+	# does not depend on any previous test setups
+
+	git init main &&
+	git init sub &&
+
+	>sub/file &&
+	git -C sub add file &&
+	git -C sub commit -m "add file" &&
+	git -C sub rev-parse HEAD >expect &&
+
+	git -C main submodule add ../sub &&
+	git -C main submodule init &&
+	git -C main submodule update --checkout &&
+	git -C main submodule status >out &&
+	sed -e "s/^ //" -e "s/ sub .*$//" out >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'recursive fetch with uninit submodule' '
+	# depends on previous test for setup
+
+	git -C main submodule deinit -f sub &&
+
+	# In a regression the following git call will run into infinite recursion.
+	# To handle that, we connect the grep command to the git call by a pipe
+	# so that grep can kill the infinite recusion when detected.
+	# The recursion creates git output like:
+	# Fetching submodule sub
+	# Fetching submodule sub/sub              <-- [1]
+	# Fetching submodule sub/sub/sub
+	# ...
+	# [1] grep will trigger here and kill git by exiting and closing its stdin
+
+	! git -C main fetch --recurse-submodules 2>&1 |
+		grep -v -m1 "Fetching submodule sub$" &&
+	git -C main submodule status >out &&
+	sed -e "s/^-//" -e "s/ sub$//" out >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done
