jhvit-20170703_SupplementTextBlock

John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust
Supplement dated July 1, 2017
to the Prospectus dated May 1, 2017

Blue Chip Growth Trust

Effective July 1, 2017, the information found under "Fees and expenses" and "Expense example" is amended and restated as follows to reflect the new advisory fee schedule:

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.

Annual fund operating expenses (%) (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Series I	Series II	Series NAV
Management fee¹	0.75	0.75	0.75
Distribution and service (Rule 12b-1) fees	0.05	0.25	0.00
Other expenses²	0.03	0.03	0.03
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.83	1.03	0.78

¹ "Management fee" has been restated to reflect the contractual management fee schedule effective July 1, 2017.

² "Other expenses" shown exclude certain one-time credits received in the prior fiscal year equivalent to -0.01%.

Expense example

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. The expense example does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expenses ($)	Series I	Series II	Series NAV
1 year	85	105	80
3 years	265	328	249
5 years	460	569	433
10 years	1,025	1,259	966

Small Cap Growth Trust

Effective July 1, 2017, the information found under "Fees and expenses" and "Expense example" is amended and restated as follows to reflect the new advisory fee schedule:

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.

Annual fund operating expenses (%) (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Series I	Series II	Series NAV
Management fee¹	1.00	1.00	1.00
Distribution and service (Rule 12b-1) fees	0.05	0.25	0.00
Other expenses²	0.05	0.05	0.05
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.10	1.30	1.05

¹ "Management fee" has been restated to reflect the contractual management fee schedule effective July 1, 2017.

² "Other expenses" shown exclude certain one-time credits received in the prior fiscal year equivalent to -0.06%.

Expense example

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. The expense example does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expenses ($)	Series I	Series II	Series NAV
1 year	112	132	107
3 years	350	412	334
5 years	606	713	579
10 years	1,340	1,568	1,283

Prospectus:

rr_ProspectusTable

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. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.

Expense Example [Heading]

rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Expense example

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.75%

^[1]

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.03%

^[2]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 85

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

460

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.75%

^[1]

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.03%

^[2]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 105

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

569

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.75%

^[1]

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.03%

^[2]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 80

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

433

Expense [Heading]

rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and expenses

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)

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

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. The expense example does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Prospectus:

rr_ProspectusTable

Distribution and service (Rule 12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.05%

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.10%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

350

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years