XML 21 R46.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.6
(International Small Company Trust)

Investment Objective

To seek long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if shares of the fund are held by separate accounts of certain John Hancock insurance companies that fund variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts. They are based on expenses incurred during the fund's most recent fiscal year expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets during the year. In subsequent periods, the fund's expense ratio may increase due to decreases in fund assets attributable to redemptions and declines in portfolio valuation. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any separate account that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.

~http://jhvit-20130429/role/ShareholderFeesDataAAAU column period compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * row dei_LegalEntityAxis compact jhvit-20130429_S000008301Member ~

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (International Small Company Trust)
Series I
Series II
NAV
Management fee 0.95% 0.95% 0.95%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees 0.05% 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.18% 0.18% 0.18%
Total annual fund operating expenses 1.18% 1.38% 1.13%

Examples. The examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The examples assume that $10,000 is invested in the fund for the periods indicated and then all shares are redeemed at the end of those periods. The examples also assume that the investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example (International Small Company Trust) (USD $)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Series I
120 375 649 1,432
Series II
140 437 755 1,657
NAV
115 359 622 1,375
~ http://jhvit-20130429/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionAAAU column period compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * row dei_LegalEntityAxis compact jhvit-20130429_S000008301Member ~

Portfolio Turnover

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's performance. During its most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 3% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities of small cap companies in the particular markets in which the fund invests. As of November 30, 2012, the maximum market capitalization range of eligible companies for purchase was approximately $1,375 million to $4,350 million, depending on the country. The fund will primarily invest in a broad and diverse group of equity securities of foreign small companies of developed markets, but may also hold equity securities of companies located in emerging markets.

The fund invests its assets in securities listed on bona fide securities exchanges or traded on the over-the-counter markets, including securities listed or traded in the form of International Depositary Receipts (IDRs), American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), Non-Voting Depositary Receipts (NVDRs) and other similar securities, including dual-listed securities. Each of these securities may be traded within or outside the issuer's domicile country.

The subadvisor measures company size on a country or region specific basis and based primarily on market capitalization. In the countries or regions authorized for investment, the subadvisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies' market capitalizations. The subadvisor then determines the universe of eligible stocks by defining the maximum market capitalization of a small company that may be purchased by the fund with respect to each country or region. This threshold will vary by country or region, and dollar amounts will change due to market conditions.

The fund intends to purchase securities in each applicable country using a market capitalization weighted approach. The subadvisor, using this approach and its judgment, will seek to set country weights based on the relative market capitalizations of eligible small companies within each country. See "Market Capitalization Weighted Approach" below. The weightings of countries in the fund may vary from their weightings in international indices, such as those published by FTSE International, MSCI or Citigroup.

The fund also may use derivatives such as futures contracts and options on futures contracts, to gain market exposure on the fund's uninvested cash pending investment in securities or to maintain liquidity to pay redemptions. The fund may enter into futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices. The fund may also enter into forward currency contracts to facilitate the settlement of equity purchases of foreign securities, repatriation of foreign currency balances or exchange of one foreign currency for another currency. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the fund may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated unregistered money market funds to manage the fund's cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

The fund does not seek current income as an investment objective and investments will not be based upon an issuer's dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the fund do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the fund will receive dividend income.

The subadvisor will determine in its discretion when and whether to invest in countries that have been authorized for investment by its Investment Committee, depending on a number of factors such as asset growth in the fund and characteristics of each country's market. The subadvisor's Investment Committee may authorize other countries for investment in the future and the fund may continue to hold investments in countries not currently authorized for investment but that had previously been authorized for investment.

Market Capitalization Weighted Approach

The fund structure involves market capitalization weighting in determining individual security weights and, where applicable, country or region weights. Market capitalization weighting means each security is generally purchased based on the issuer's relative market capitalization. Market capitalization weighting may be adjusted by the subadvisor for a variety of reasons. The subadvisor may consider such factors as free float, momentum, trading strategies, liquidity management, and expected profitability, as well as other factors determined to be appropriate by the subadvisor given market conditions. In assessing expected profitability, the subadvisor may consider different ratios, such as that of earnings or profits from operations relative to book value or assets. The subadvisor may deviate from market capitalization weighting to limit or fix the exposure of the fund to a particular country or issuer to a maximum proportion of the assets of the fund. The subadvisor may exclude the stock of a company that meets applicable market capitalization criteria if the subadvisor determines, in its judgment, that the purchase of such security is inappropriate in light of other conditions. These adjustments will result in a deviation from traditional market capitalization weighting.

Country weights may be based on the total market capitalization of companies within each country. The calculation of country market capitalization may take into consideration the free float of companies within a country or whether these companies are eligible to be purchased for the particular strategy. In addition, to maintain a satisfactory level of diversification, the Investment Committee may limit or adjust the exposure to a particular country or region to a maximum proportion of the assets of that vehicle. Country weights may also deviate from target weights due to general day-to-day trading patterns and price movements. The weighting of countries will likely vary from their weighting in published international indices. Also, deviation from target weights may result from holding securities from countries that are no longer authorized for future investments.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund

The fund is subject to risks, and you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in the fund include:

Active management risk The subadvisor's investment strategy may fail to produce the intended result.

Emerging markets risk The risks of investing in foreign securities are greater for investments in emerging markets. Emerging market countries may experience higher inflation, interest rates and unemployment as well as greater social, economic, regulatory and political uncertainties than more developed countries.

Equity securities risk The value of a company's equity securities is subject to changes in the company's financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions.

Foreign securities risk As compared to U.S. companies, there may be less publicly available information relating to foreign companies. Foreign securities may be subject to foreign taxes. The value of foreign securities is subject to currency fluctuations and adverse political and economic developments. Investments in emerging-market countries are subject to greater levels of foreign investment risk.

Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk Hedging and other strategic transactions may increase the volatility of a fund and, if the transaction is not successful, could result in a significant loss to a fund. The use of derivative instruments could produce disproportionate gains or losses, more than the principal amount invested. Investing in derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments and, in a down market, could become harder to value or sell at a fair price. The following is a list of certain derivatives and other strategic transactions in which the fund may invest and the main risks associated with each of them:

Foreign currency forward contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), foreign currency risk and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving foreign currency forward contracts.

Futures contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving futures contracts.

Options Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving options. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded options.

Issuer risk An issuer of a security may perform poorly and, therefore, the value of its stocks and bonds may decline. An issuer of securities held by the fund could default or have its credit rating downgraded.

Liquidity risk Exposure exists when trading volume, lack of a market maker or legal restrictions impair the ability to sell particular securities or close derivative positions at an advantageous price.

Medium and smaller company risk The prices of medium and smaller company stocks can change more frequently and dramatically than those of large company stocks. For purposes of the fund's investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company's securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.

Past Performance

The following information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by showing changes in performance from year to year and by showing how average annual returns for specified periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Unless all share classes shown in the table have the same inception date, performance shown for periods prior to the inception date of a class is the performance of the fund's oldest share class. This pre-inception performance, with respect to any other share class of the fund, has not been adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of that class. As a result, the pre-inception performance shown for a share class other than the oldest share class may be higher or lower than it would be if adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of the class. The performance information below does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract which may use JHVIT as its underlying investment medium. If such fees and expenses had been reflected, performance would be lower. The past performance of the fund is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

Calendar year total returns for Series NAV:

Bar Chart

Best Quarter:     31.13% (Quarter ended 6/30/2009)

Worst Quarter:   -22.53% (Quarter ended 9/30/2008)

Average Annual Total Returns for period ended 12/31/2012

Average Annual Total Returns (International Small Company Trust)
1 Year
5 Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Series I
19.19% (1.39%) 0.61% Nov. 16, 2009
Series II
19.00% (1.50%) 0.52% Nov. 16, 2009
NAV
19.24% (1.36%) 0.63% Apr. 28, 2006
MSCI EAFE Small Cap Index (gross of foreign withholding taxes on dividends)
20.42% (0.51%) 0.41% Apr. 28, 2006