diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 3b631092eb..c6a4aeecd3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ git-annex (6.20170215) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * When downloading in --json or --quiet mode, use curl in preference
     to wget, since curl is able to display only errors to stderr, unlike
     wget.
+  * status: Pass --ignore-submodules=when option on to git status.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:54:25 -0400
 
diff --git a/Command/Status.hs b/Command/Status.hs
index 3a3bfa812a..2e6b9f44ab 100644
--- a/Command/Status.hs
+++ b/Command/Status.hs
@@ -20,14 +20,28 @@ cmd = notBareRepo $ noCommit $ noMessages $
 	withGlobalOptions [jsonOption] $
 		command "status" SectionCommon
 			"show the working tree status"
-			paramPaths (withParams seek)
+			paramPaths (seek <$$> optParser)
 
-seek :: CmdParams -> CommandSeek
-seek = withWords start
+data StatusOptions = StatusOptions
+	{ statusFiles :: CmdParams
+	, ignoreSubmodules :: Maybe String
+	}
+
+optParser :: CmdParamsDesc -> Parser StatusOptions
+optParser desc = StatusOptions
+	<$> cmdParams desc
+	<*> optional (strOption
+		( long "ignore-submodules"
+		<> help "passed on to git status"
+		<> metavar "WHEN"
+		))
+
+seek :: StatusOptions -> CommandSeek
+seek o = withWords (start o) (statusFiles o)
 	
-start :: [FilePath] -> CommandStart
-start locs = do
-	(l, cleanup) <- inRepo $ getStatus locs
+start :: StatusOptions -> [FilePath] -> CommandStart
+start o locs = do
+	(l, cleanup) <- inRepo $ getStatus ps locs
 	getstatus <- ifM isDirect
 		( return statusDirect
 		, return $ \s -> pure (Just s)
@@ -35,6 +49,10 @@ start locs = do
 	forM_ l $ \s -> maybe noop displayStatus =<< getstatus s
 	void $ liftIO cleanup
 	stop
+  where
+	ps = case ignoreSubmodules o of
+		Nothing -> []
+		Just s -> [Param $ "--ignore-submodules="++s]
 
 displayStatus :: Status -> Annex ()
 -- renames not shown in this simplified status
diff --git a/Git/Status.hs b/Git/Status.hs
index 4f9ad0265b..778e65248a 100644
--- a/Git/Status.hs
+++ b/Git/Status.hs
@@ -64,13 +64,14 @@ parseStatusZ = go []
 	cparse '?' = Just Untracked
 	cparse _ = Nothing
 
-getStatus :: [FilePath] -> Repo -> IO ([Status], IO Bool)
-getStatus l r = do
-	(ls, cleanup) <- pipeNullSplit params r
+getStatus :: [CommandParam] -> [FilePath] -> Repo -> IO ([Status], IO Bool)
+getStatus ps fs r = do
+	(ls, cleanup) <- pipeNullSplit ps' r
 	return (parseStatusZ ls, cleanup)
   where
-	params =
-		[ Param "status"
-		, Param "-uall"
-		, Param "-z"
-		] ++ map File l
+	ps' = concat
+		[ [Param "status"]
+		, ps
+		, [ Param "-uall" , Param "-z"]
+		, map File fs
+		]
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-status.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-status.mdwn
index 19bd6fab5a..3a897dc24c 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-status.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-status.mdwn
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ Particularly useful in direct mode.
   Enable JSON output. This is intended to be parsed by programs that use
   git-annex. Each line of output is a JSON object.
 
+* `--ignore-submodules=when`
+
+  This option is passed on to git status, see its man page for
+  details.
+
 # SEE ALSO
 
 [[git-annex]](1)