May 02, 2017
Class Y Prospectus \| EUROPEAN EQUITY PORTFOLIO
EUROPEAN EQUITY PORTFOLIO
May 2, 2017 Supplement SUPPLEMENT DATED MAY 2, 2017 TO THE PROSPECTUS OF MORGAN STANLEY VARIABLE INVESTMENT SERIES THE EUROPEAN EQUITY PORTFOLIO CLASS Y Dated May 1, 2017 Important Notice Regarding Change in Investment Policy
Effective July 31, 2017, the third sentence of the first paragraph of the section of the Prospectus entitled "Fund Summary—Principal Investment Strategies" is hereby deleted and replaced with the following:
A company is considered to be located in Europe if (i) it is organized under the laws of a European country and has a principal office in a European country; (ii) it derives at least 50% of its total revenues or profits from businesses in Europe or has at least 50% of its assets in Europe; or (iii) its equity securities are traded principally on a stock exchange in Europe. PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

No definition available.

Name:	ck0000716716_SupplementTextBlock
Namespace Prefix:	ck0000716716_
Data Type:	nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Risk/Return Summary Investment Objectives/Goals Include the following information, in plain English under rule 421(d) under the Securities Act, in the order and subject matter indicated

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Form
-Number N-1A
-Chapter A
-Section 2

+ Details

Name:	rr_RiskReturnHeading
Namespace Prefix:	rr_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Principal investment strategies of the Fund. Summarize how the Fund intends to achieve its investment objectives by identifying the Fund's principal investment strategies (including the type or types of securities in which the Fund invests or will invest principally) and any policy to concentrate in securities of issuers in a particular industry or group of industries.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Form
-Number N-1A
-Chapter A
-Section 4
-Subsection a

+ Details

Name:	rr_StrategyHeading
Namespace Prefix:	rr_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Form
-Number N-1A
-Chapter A
-Section 4
-Subsection a

+ Details

Name:	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock
Namespace Prefix:	rr_
Data Type:	nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	dei_DocumentInformationDocumentAxis=ck0000716716_doc_Class_Y_ProspectusMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=ck0000716716_S000002465Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: