In addition to her parliamentary mandate, Özoğuz served as Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration at the rank of Minister of State in the third government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018.

Following her studies in English as a major and Spanish and Human Resources Management as a minor, she completed a master's degree at the University of Hamburg in 1994.

From 1996 on, Özoğuz conducted projects in the field of Youth and Science Exchange as well as academic conferences on issues of international relations.

She was appointed speaker of the SPD parliamentary group for migration policies and member of the committees of interior affairs, petitions and family.

[7] In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the Free Democrats (FDP) following the elections, she was part of her party's delegation in the working group on migration and integration, co-chaired by Boris Pistorius, Luise Amtsberg and Joachim Stamp.

[12] Together with Doris Ahnen, Niels Annen, Michael Groschek and Manuela Schwesig, Özoğuz co-chaired the SPD's 2017 extraordinary convention in Dortmund.

[13] In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Özoğuz was part of the working group on migration policy, led by Volker Bouffier, Joachim Herrmann and Ralf Stegner.

'[17] Özoğuz is married to Michael Neumann, Senator of Interior Affairs from SPD in the state government of Hamburg, and has a daughter, Hanna.

[4][25][26] Her brothers, Yavuz Özoğuz and Gürhan Özoğuz—both staunch supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah—run the Islamist internet site Muslim-Markt.