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Label Element Value
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Document Type dei_DocumentType Other
Document Period End Date dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate Dec. 31, 2012
Registrant Name dei_EntityRegistrantName JOHN HANCOCK VARIABLE INSURANCE TRUST
Central Index Key dei_EntityCentralIndexKey 0000756913
Amendment Flag dei_AmendmentFlag false
Document Creation Date dei_DocumentCreationDate Oct. 02, 2013
Document Effective Date dei_DocumentEffectiveDate Oct. 02, 2013
Prospectus Date rr_ProspectusDate Sep. 30, 2013
(Lifestyle Aggressive PS Series)
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading

Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

To seek long-term growth of capital.
Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. They are based on estimated expenses for the current fiscal year. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses for the variable insurance contracts and would be higher if they did. For more information on the fees of the variable insurance contract see the contract prospectus.
Operating Expenses Caption [Text] rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

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

 [1]
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination 2015-04-30
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading

Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

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. Because the fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus, there is no portfolio turnover to report.
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

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:
Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading

Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

The fund, except as otherwise described below, operates as a fund of funds and normally invests approximately 100% of its assets in underlying funds that invest primarily in equity securities or in futures contracts on equity markets (the "Equity Allocation") and up to 10 % of its assets in underlying funds that invest primarily in fixed-income securities or in futures contracts on fixed-income markets (the "Fixed-Income Allocation"). Underlying funds include exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") and the fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in ETFs. At the discretion of the subadvisors, the Equity Allocation may also include direct investments in equity securities, and the Fixed-Income Allocation may also include direct investments in fixed-income securities. The subadvisors may also determine in light of market or economic conditions that the normal percentage limitations should be exceeded to protect the fund or achieve its objective.

Within the prescribed percentage allocation, the subadvisors select the percentage level to be maintained in specific underlying funds and in futures contracts on equity or fixed income markets. These allocations may be changed at any time by the subadvisors.

The fund may invest in various underlying funds that as a group hold a wide range of equity type securities.. The fund may also invest in underlying funds that purchase futures contracts on equity markets.

Certain of these underlying funds focus their investment strategy on fixed-income securities, which may include investment grade and below investment grade debt securities ("junk bonds") with maturities that range from short to longer term.

The fund may invest in derivatives, including futures contracts and options.. The fund may use derivatives for hedging and non-hedging purposes including, without limitation, the following purposes:

  • To establish a position in the derivatives markets as a method of gaining exposure to a particular security or market;

  • To attempt to protect against possible changes in the market value of securities held or to be purchased by the fund or an underlying fund;

  • To manage the effective maturity or duration of the securities of the fund or an underlying fund;

  • To facilitate the repatriation of foreign currency and the settlement of purchases of foreign securities

The fund may invest in other types of investments, including exchange-traded notes ("ETNs"), as described under "Other Permitted Investments by the Fund of Funds."
Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund of Funds
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

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

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

Commodity risk Commodity investments involve the risk of volatile market price fluctuations of commodities resulting from fluctuating demand, supply disruption, speculation and other factors.

Exchange-traded funds risk Owning an ETF generally reflects the risks of owning the underlying securities it is designed to track.

Exchange-traded notes risk Similar to ETFs, owning an ETN generally reflects the risks of owning the assets that comprise the underlying market benchmark or strategy that the ETN is designed to reflect. ETNs also are subject to issuer and fixed-income risk.

Fund of funds risk The fund is subject to the performance of the underlying funds in which it invests.

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. In addition, the use of derivative instruments (such as options, futures and swaps) 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:

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. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded futures.

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.

Investment company securities risk The fund bears its own expenses and indirectly bears its proportionate share of expenses of the underlying funds in which it invests.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Underlying Funds

The principal risks of investing in the Underlying Funds include:

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

Convertible securities risk The market values of convertible securities tend to decline as interest rates increase and, conversely, to increase as interest rates decline. In addition, as the market price of the underlying common stock declines below the conversion price, the price of the convertible security tends to be increasingly influenced more by the yield of the convertible security.

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.

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. The securities of growth companies are subject to greater price fluctuations than other types of stocks because their market prices tend to place greater emphasis on future earnings expectations. The securities of value companies are subject to the risk that the companies may not overcome the adverse business developments or other factors causing their securities to be underpriced or that the market may never come to recognize their fundamental value.

Exchange-traded funds risk Owning an ETF generally reflects the risks of owning the underlying securities it is designed to track.

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. 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:

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. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded futures.

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.

Industry or sector risk Because the fund may focus on one or more industry or sector of the economy, its performance depends in large part on the performance of those sectors or industries. As a result, the value of your investment may fluctuate more widely than it would in a fund that is diversified across industries and sectors.

Initial public offerings risk IPO shares may have a magnified impact on fund performance and are frequently volatile in price. They can be held for a short period of time causing an increase in portfolio turnover.

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.

Large company risk Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the fund to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies. 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.

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.

Lower-rated fixed-income securities risk and high-yield securities risk Lower-rated fixed-income securities and high yield fixed-income securities (commonly known as "junk bonds") are subject to greater credit quality risk and risk of default than higher-rated fixed-income securities. These securities may be considered speculative and the value of these securities can be more volatile due to increased sensitivity to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market or economic developments and can be difficult to resell.

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.

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.

Non-diversified risk Overall risk can be reduced by investing in securities from a diversified pool of issuers and is increased by investing in securities of a small number of issuers. Investments in a non-diversified fund may magnify the fund's losses from adverse events affecting a particular issuer.

Short sales risk Short sales involve costs and risk. The fund must pay the lender interest on the security it borrows, and the fund will lose money if the price of the security increases between the time of the short sale and the date when the fund replaces the borrowed security.
Risk Lose Money [Text] rr_RiskLoseMoney The Fund of Funds is subject to risks, and you could lose money by investing in the fund.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text] rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus Non-diversified risk Overall risk can be reduced by investing in securities from a diversified pool of issuers and is increased by investing in securities of a small number of issuers. Investments in a non-diversified fund may magnify the fund's losses from adverse events affecting a particular issuer.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

Past Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

This section normally shows how a fund's total return has varied from year to year, along with a broad-based securities market index for reference. Because the fund has less than one calendar year of performance as of the date of this Prospectus, there is no past performance to report.
(Lifestyle Aggressive PS Series) | Series I
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Management Fee rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.04%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 0.05%
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.23%
Acquired fund fees and expenses rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.42% [2]
Total annual fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 0.74%
Contractual expense reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.19%) [3]
Total annual fund operating expenses after expense reimbursements rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.55%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 56
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 217
(Lifestyle Aggressive PS Series) | Series II
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Management Fee rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.04%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 0.25%
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.23%
Acquired fund fees and expenses rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.42% [2]
Total annual fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 0.94%
Contractual expense reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.19%) [3]
Total annual fund operating expenses after expense reimbursements rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.75%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 77
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 281
(Lifestyle Aggressive PS Series) | Series NAV
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Management Fee rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.04%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.23%
Acquired fund fees and expenses rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.42% [2]
Total annual fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 0.69%
Contractual expense reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.19%) [3]
Total annual fund operating expenses after expense reimbursements rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.50%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 51
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 202
[1] "Annual Fund Operating Expenses" have been estimated for the fund's first year of operations.
[2] "Acquired fund fees and expenses" are based on the estimated indirect net expenses associated with the fund's investment in underlying funds, and are included in "Total fund operating expenses."
[3] The Advisor has contractually limited other fund level expenses to 0.04%. These expenses consist of operating expenses of the fund excluding advisory fees, 12b-1 fees, short dividends, acquired fund fees, taxes, brokerage commissions, interest expense, litigation and indemnification expenses and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of business. The current expense limitation agreement expires on April 30, 2015 unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the Advisor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at that time.