Let X be a multidimensional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, solution to the S.D.E.

dX = AX + dB

where A is a real nxn matrix and B a Lévy process. We show that when A is non-singular, the law of X_1 is absolutely continuous if and only if the jumping measure of B fulfils a certain geometric condition with respect to A and the Gaussian part of B, which we call the exhaustion property. This optimal criterion is much weaker than for B, which might be very singular and genuinely one-dimensional. The proof uses a certain time derivation procedure and basic arguments from controllability theory.