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(Ultra Short Term Bond Trust)

Investment Objective

The fund seeks a high level of current income consistent with the maintenance of liquidity and the preservation of capital.

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.

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Ultra Short Term Bond Trust)
Series I
Series II
NAV
Management fee 0.55% 0.55% 0.55%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees 0.05% 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.10% 0.10% 0.10%
Total annual fund operating expenses 0.70% 0.90% 0.65%

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 (Ultra Short Term Bond Trust) (USD $)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Series I
72 224 390 871
Series II
92 287 498 1,108
NAV
66 208 362 810
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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 196% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in a diversified portfolio of domestic, investment grade, debt securities. Debt securities may be issued by governments, companies or special purpose entities and may include notes, discount notes, bonds, debentures, commercial paper, repurchase agreements, mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities and assignments, participations and other interests in bank loans. The fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents.

Investment grade securities include securities that are rated in one of the four highest rating categories as determined by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, such as Standard & Poor's Ratings Services ("S&P"), Fitch Investors Service, Inc. ("Fitch") or Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's"), or are unrated securities determined by the subadvisor to be of comparable quality.

The fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities that are rated BBB by S&P or Fitch, Baa by Moody's, or unrated securities determined by the subadvisor to be of comparable quality. The fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in foreign debt securities, including up to 5% of its nets assets in foreign debt securities that are denominated in a foreign currency.

Under normal circumstances, the fund's dollar weighted average maturity will be two years or less and its duration will be one year or less. Up to 15% of the fund's net assets may be invested in securities with maturities greater than three years.

Use of Hedging and Other Strategic Transactions. The fund is authorized to use various hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions described under "Additional Information about the Funds' Principal Risks - Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk."

The fund may invest in derivatives, including futures, currency forwards, options, swap contracts and other derivative instruments. The fund may invest in derivatives for both hedging and non-hedging purposes, including, for example, to seek to enhance returns or as a substitute for a position in an underlying asset.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund

The fund is not a money market fund. The fund's value will fluctuate 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.

Credit and counterparty risk The issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, the counterparty to an over-the-counter derivatives contract or a borrower of a fund's securities may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal, interest or settlement payments, or otherwise honor its obligations. Funds that invest in fixed-income securities are subject to varying degrees of risk that the issuers of the securities will have their credit rating downgraded or will default, potentially reducing a fund's share price and income level.

Fixed-income securities risk Fixed-income securities are affected by changes in interest rates and credit quality. A rise in interest rates typically causes bond prices to fall. The longer the average maturity of the bonds held by the fund, the more sensitive the fund is likely to be to interest-rate changes. There is the possibility that the issuer of the security will not repay all or a portion of the principal borrowed and will not make all interest payments.

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.

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 dispropor-tionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving options. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded options.

Swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk, settlement risk, risk of default of the underlying reference obligation and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving swaps.

High portfolio turnover risk Actively trading securities can increase transaction costs (thus lowering performance).

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.

Loan participations risk Participations and assignments involve special types of risks, including credit risk, interest-rate risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk and the risks of being a lender.

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities risk Different types of mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities are subject to different combinations of prepayment, extension, interest-rate and/or other market risks.

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. 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 I:

Bar Chart

Best Quarter:     0.41% (Quarter ended 3/31/2012)

Worst Quarter:   -0.32% (Quarter ended 9/30/2011)

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

Average Annual Total Returns (Ultra Short Term Bond Trust)
1 Year
Since Inception
Inception Date
Series I
0.54% 0.21% Jul. 29, 2010
Series II
0.37% 0.02% Jul. 29, 2010
NAV
0.66% 0.25% Jul. 29, 2010
Bank of America Merrill Lynch 6 Month Treasury Bill Index
0.17% 0.24% Jul. 29, 2010