diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 1069a5d296..58bcfbdbb5 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -848,7 +848,8 @@ version 0.1.0 or later;
 @item @uref{https://notabug.org/guile-lzlib/guile-lzlib, Guile-lzlib};
 @item @uref{https://www.nongnu.org/guile-avahi/, Guile-Avahi};
 @item
-@c FIXME: Specify a version number once a release has been made.
+@c FIXME: We need the #:fetch-options parameter of 'submodule-update',
+@c which appeared in 0.5.0.  Change below after string freeze.
 @uref{https://gitlab.com/guile-git/guile-git, Guile-Git}, version 0.3.0
 or later;
 @item @uref{https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/guile-json/, Guile-JSON}
diff --git a/guix/git.scm b/guix/git.scm
index 776b03f33a..57fa2ca1ee 100644
--- a/guix/git.scm
+++ b/guix/git.scm
@@ -283,13 +283,15 @@ (define-syntax-rule (with-git-error-handling body ...)
       (report-git-error err))))
 
 (define* (update-submodules repository
-                            #:key (log-port (current-error-port)))
+                            #:key (log-port (current-error-port))
+                            (fetch-options #f))
   "Update the submodules of REPOSITORY, a Git repository object."
   (for-each (lambda (name)
               (let ((submodule (submodule-lookup repository name)))
                 (format log-port (G_ "updating submodule '~a'...~%")
                         name)
-                (submodule-update submodule)
+                (submodule-update submodule
+                                  #:fetch-options fetch-options)
 
                 ;; Recurse in SUBMODULE.
                 (let ((directory (string-append
@@ -297,6 +299,7 @@ (define* (update-submodules repository
                                   "/" (submodule-path submodule))))
                   (with-repository directory repository
                     (update-submodules repository
+                                       #:fetch-options fetch-options
                                        #:log-port log-port)))))
             (repository-submodules repository)))
 
@@ -397,7 +400,8 @@ (define canonical-ref
        (remote-fetch (remote-lookup repository "origin")
                      #:fetch-options (make-default-fetch-options)))
      (when recursive?
-       (update-submodules repository #:log-port log-port))
+       (update-submodules repository #:log-port log-port
+                          #:fetch-options (make-default-fetch-options)))
 
      ;; Note: call 'commit-relation' from here because it's more efficient
      ;; than letting users re-open the checkout later on.