Border Improvement and Immigration Act of 1998 - Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 with respect to the automated entry-exit control system to exempt from required recordkeeping: (1) land border crossings; and (2) permanent resident and certain other aliens.
(Sec. 3) Requires the Attorney General to report: (1) on the feasibility of implementing an automated entry-exit control system that would include land border arrivals and departures; and (2) annually on the development status of the automated entry-exit control system, and on visa overstays identified through such system. Requires integration of overstay information into Department of State and Immigration and Naturalization Service databases.
(Sec. 5) Establishes a maximum $45 tourist or business visitor visa fee for an alien who is 18 years or older (free if under such age) who will be in the United States for less than 72 hours and will not travel more than 25 miles from the United States-Mexico border.
Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to extend from three years to four years the deadline prohibiting an alien using a border crossing identification card that does not contain a biometric identifier (such as a fingerprint).
Requires tourist and business visitor visas to continue to be processed at least until October 1, 2000, in the Mexican border cities of Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Acuna, Piedras Negras, Agua Prieta, and Reynosa.
(Sec. 6) Authorizes additional appropriations beginning in FY 1999 for northern and southwestern land border Immigration and Naturalization Service control and enforcement activities.
(Sec. 7) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Customs Service should be granted similar additional authorization of appropriations for border control and enforcement activities.