You don’t have to use the exclusion, and in a lot of cases it’s not really beneficial. The other option is to pay the difference in taxes, so if you were taxed

You don’t have to use the exclusion, and in a lot of cases it’s not really beneficial. The other option is to pay the difference in taxes, so if you were taxed at 50% in the country of residence, and the tax bill in the US would have been 45%, you’ll get the 5% back as tax credits towards future US tax obligations. If you’re working in most European nations you’ll probably be paying more in tax than you would in the US.