diff --git a/builtin/mv.c b/builtin/mv.c
index aeae855e2b..a2014266b6 100644
--- a/builtin/mv.c
+++ b/builtin/mv.c
@@ -252,15 +252,18 @@ int cmd_mv(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		int pos;
 		if (show_only || verbose)
 			printf(_("Renaming %s to %s\n"), src, dst);
-		if (!show_only && mode != INDEX) {
-			if (rename(src, dst) < 0 && !ignore_errors)
-				die_errno(_("renaming '%s' failed"), src);
-			if (submodule_gitfile[i]) {
-				if (submodule_gitfile[i] != SUBMODULE_WITH_GITDIR)
-					connect_work_tree_and_git_dir(dst, submodule_gitfile[i]);
-				if (!update_path_in_gitmodules(src, dst))
-					gitmodules_modified = 1;
-			}
+		if (show_only)
+			continue;
+		if (mode != INDEX && rename(src, dst) < 0) {
+			if (ignore_errors)
+				continue;
+			die_errno(_("renaming '%s' failed"), src);
+		}
+		if (submodule_gitfile[i]) {
+			if (submodule_gitfile[i] != SUBMODULE_WITH_GITDIR)
+				connect_work_tree_and_git_dir(dst, submodule_gitfile[i]);
+			if (!update_path_in_gitmodules(src, dst))
+				gitmodules_modified = 1;
 		}
 
 		if (mode == WORKING_DIRECTORY)
diff --git a/t/t7001-mv.sh b/t/t7001-mv.sh
index 4008faead8..4a2570ed95 100755
--- a/t/t7001-mv.sh
+++ b/t/t7001-mv.sh
@@ -292,6 +292,9 @@ test_expect_success 'setup submodule' '
 	echo content >file &&
 	git add file &&
 	git commit -m "added sub and file" &&
+	mkdir -p deep/directory/hierachy &&
+	git submodule add ./. deep/directory/hierachy/sub &&
+	git commit -m "added another submodule" &&
 	git branch submodule
 '
 
@@ -475,4 +478,17 @@ test_expect_success 'mv -k does not accidentally destroy submodules' '
 	git checkout .
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'moving a submodule in nested directories' '
+	(
+		cd deep &&
+		git mv directory ../ &&
+		# git status would fail if the update of linking git dir to
+		# work dir of the submodule failed.
+		git status &&
+		git config -f ../.gitmodules submodule.deep/directory/hierachy/sub.path >../actual &&
+		echo "directory/hierachy/sub" >../expect
+	) &&
+	test_cmp actual expect
+'
+
 test_done